Cuttack, April 16: Orissa High Court has admitted a PIL seeking quashing of the appointment of a bureaucrat as director of the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre in the city.

The state health and family welfare department had appointed the National Health Mission's additional director Saroj Kumar Samal, who is also an Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer, as the centre's director on February 12.

Controversy had sparked off after Odisha branch of the Indian Medical Association had condemned the appointment at its annual state council meeting at Jajpur Road on February 14 as it violated the Medical Council of India guidelines. The association demanded withdrawal of the order and appointment of "a suitable technical personnel as early as possible".

On March 10, Cuttack resident Sib Charan Bose, 69, filed the PIL, seeking quashing of the appointment order expressing apprehension that functioning of the centre would be adversely affected with a bureaucrat as the centre director.

In his petition, Bose said the MCI guidelines specified that for the post of director, a person should possess a postgraduation medical qualification with 10-year teaching experience in a medical college, and out of which, at least five years as professor of a department.

Besides, to become the centre's director, the person must have worked at least for five years in the field of cancer in any recognised medical institution. The petition came up for hearing yesterday.

"After a preliminary hearing, the division bench of Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Biswanath Rath admitted the PIL and posted the matter to April 23 for the final hearing, along with the state government's reply," petitioner counsel Kshirod Rout said today.

According to the petition, the centre is a regional body for research and early detection and treatment of cancer. It caters to patients from across Odisha and its neighbouring states. This apart, its objectives are to undertake basic, applied and statistical research in various specialties of oncology. It also deals with generation of technical and scientific manpower in various specialties of oncology with the help of the state's medical colleges to organise and conduct postgraduate and doctoral training for medical personnel in radiation oncology, nuclear medicine, immunology, tumour and radiation pathology, bio-chemistry, cytology and cancer epidemiology.

The petitioner expressed apprehension than a bureaucrat would fail to discharge the director's duties as he was expected to very often decide about the treatment policy and take decision regarding referral cases for better treatment of a patient. The director also represents the centre in various meetings, seminar and orientation programme organised by the central government as well as other cancer institutes.

One OAS officer is posted as administrative officer and another Odisha Finance Service officer is also posted as accounts officer of the centre. "So, giving the director's responsibility to another OAS officer is nothing but turning the centre into a rehabilitation centre than safeguarding the public interest," the PIL contends.