The Public Interest Litigation filed in the Madras High Court by a former regulatory officer of the Tamil Nadu State Drug Control Administration seeking an enquiry into the appointment of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has forced the Union Government to frame a set of Recruitment Rules for the post of DCGI.

As a fall out of the case, the Union Government has framed the Recruitment Rules for the selection and appointment of candidates for the post of DCGI, and it has been notified in the government of India gazette on 14.06.2011 in GSR 452(E). The Rules is called ‘the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (Drugs Controller (India)) Recruitment Rules, 2011.

Besides seeking to conduct an enquiry in to the appointment of Dr Surinder Singh as DCGI, the petitioner, TK Ramalingasamy, had prayed for framing rules for the selection and appointment of candidates for the post of DCGI.

In his counter argument in the court, the additional solicitor general of India, Mohan Parasaran, has informed the court that the government has already made the recruitment rules and notified it in the government of India gazette. The new appointment of DCGI will be based on the said rules, and the advertisement calling for applications was published on 01.08.2011.

In the counter affidavit, the second respondent Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has stated that the recruitment rules for the post of DCGI was not in existence at the time of selecting Dr Surinder Singh, and that the Department had approached the Commission for resorting to ‘one time mode of recruitment’. The UPSC considered the requirement of the Department and a one time mode of recruitment was approved by the Commission duly keeping in view of the provisions of Rules 49 A and 50 A of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1945. The mode of recruitment was on deputation including short term contract.

The court order reveals that the order extending term of deputation of Dr Surinder Singh for a further period of nine months from 21.06.2011 to 31.03.2012 was issued prior to the notification of the recruitment rules, which was notified on 14.06.2011. Since such extension of deputation was done without the leave of the court, as the case was pending with the court, the notification made on 08.06.2011 extending the service of Dr Singh, was stayed by the court.

The court also observed that the procedure adopted for extension of deputation of Dr Surinder Singh was not appreciable.

The Government of India’s CDSCO Drug Controller (India) Recruitment Rules 2011 also indicates appointment on deputation basis. But the petitioner’s contention was to appoint a drug control official from the CDSCO through promotion.