Chennai: A petition challenging the appointment of Dr. P. Balaji as Member Secretary of Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (Transtan) has been filed in the Madras high court. The surgeon has been embroiled in a controversy over his attestation of the thumb impression of Jayalalithaa in the Apollo hospital, on the nomination forms of AIADMK candidates for the by-elections last October.
The first bench comprising of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M. Sundar, before which a PIL filed by ChangeIndia, an NGO, represented by its director A. Narayanan, came up for hearing, said it would be heard.
In the petition, Narayanan, submitted that Dr. P.Balaji, Professor of Minimal Access Surgery, Madras Medical College, had no qualification or experience to be the member secretary of Transtan and got his posting only as quid-pro-quo for his attesting Jayalalithaa’s thumb impression. The health minister “is seeking to destroy the nascent institution with a good track record”, the petitioner said.
He alleged that despite performing well, Dr J.Amalorpavanathan was “unceremoniously dropped” from the post of Member Secretary to make way for Dr Balaji’s appointment in his place. The illegal appointment regularised in another illegal manner through a G.O.(MS) No. 163 dated May 5, 2017 had gone against the memorandum of association and the by-laws of Transtan, the petitioner contended.
He said only because of his political connection, Dr.P.Balaji was also honored as one of the best doctors in the State in June 2017. It was done not on account of any known significant achievement in the medical field. Even though he was promoted as an Associate Professor only in October 2012, he was made a Professor within a short period, the petitioner said, while seeking the court direction quashing the order appointing Dr Balaji as Transtan member secretary.
