New Delhi, September 28
An emergency meeting of the Institute Body of the PGI, Chandigarh, is being convened here on Monday to discuss the controversy over the charges against its Director, Prof S.K. Sharma.

Although Health Ministry officials did not disclose the agenda of the meeting, PGI sources said the members of the Institute Body would discuss the Central Vigilance Commission’s recommendations of disciplinary proceedings against the PGI Director and Head of the Department of Urology, Professor Sharma.

The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, will preside over the meeting. Prominent among the 19 members of the Institute Body, an apex body for taking decisions on policy matters are the Health Secretary, Mr J.V.R. Prasada Rao, the Director- General, Health Services, Dr S.P. Aggarwal, a Rajya Sabha MP , Dr Manmohan Singh, the MP from Chandigarh, Mr Pawan Kumar Bansal, and the Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Prof K.N. Pathak.

The CVC recommendations stem from charges that Professor Sharma ignored norms to appoint his nephew as a Junior Engineer two years ago. The nephew no longer works in the PGI.

This is for the first time in the history of the institute that a Director has been asked to proceed on leave by the Health Ministry. Professor Sharma is due to retire in March next year.

Professor Sharma told TNS here today that he had heard of the CVC recommendations but had not got a chance to plead his case. He will not attend the meting tomorrow as he is on leave.