AGARTALA, April 23 (TIWN): In yet another setback for the ruling left front Government here, the High Court of Tripura ordered the removal of Dr. Tapan Kumar Das from the post of Director, Department of Health and Family Welfare Government of Tripura on wednesday. The order once again showed the partisan role played by the Government in selecting the heads of departments in the state. It may be mentioned here that the Government had earlier appointed Dr. Tapan kumar Das as the In-charge Director of the Health and Family Welfare Department by passing many other eligibles in the department.The High court ordered the Government to replace Dr. Das with a new Director within two months time.In a judgement passed by Justice SC Das, the order said that the government’s step to appoint Dr. Das violated the seniority rule as Dr. Das was a Grade II officer while Dr. Debbarma was a Grade I officer at the time of appointment. Dr. Das was appointed as the Director of Health & Family Welfare Department in the month of December 2014 and that led Dr J K Debbarma file the case challenging the appointment in the month of February 20014.It may be mentioned here that both Dr. Tapan Kumar Das and Dr. J K Debbarma were holdingh the same post of Additional Director in the department but Dr. Das was prefered over Dr. Debbarma because of his proximity with the CPI-M Melarmath political bosses.

According to department sources, Dr. Sujit Chakma, who is holding the post of Additional Director in the department is the choice for the Director’s post.