Prof Rita set to become director of RIMS

Special Correspondent

IMPHAL, April 29: Prof S. Rita who was appointed as the director in charge of Regiol Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal will become the first full-fledged lady director of this institute under the Union Health Ministry. In fact, she should have been so from last Friday. But the incumbent Prof Chongtham Arunkumar raised obstacles. He claimed that there cannot be successive appointments of directors in charge. Besides, as the office of the RIMS director was locked she could not sit there. However, on Monday she had submitted her joining report through the Deputy Director (Administration).

A single bench of the Manipur High court in an interim ruling on Wednesday vacated the stay order against the appointment. The single bench of the high court headed by Chief Justice Laxmi Kanta Mahapatra said that she be allowed to join the office. The ruling further said that in the meantime the hearings of the case shall continue and everything shall depend on the court verdict after the fil hearings.

Prof Rita who is the head of department of pharmacology department of RIMS is an academic par excellence. She always maintained a low profile, working within the department. She is not used to the situation she is facing and the way her issue is dragged all the way to the high court.