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| Ministers come to rescue of tainted Principal Government Dental College, Srinagar | | Despite being indicted in corruption case, Dr Riyaz continues to head Dental College | | Jehangir Rashid
SRINAGAR, Feb 17: Despite the Government claims that more than 100 officials have been prosecuted for their role in various scams and scandals no action whatsoever has been taken against Principal Government Dental College, Srinagar, Dr. Riyaz Farooq.
This is despite the fact that State Vigilance Organization (SVO) has already registered a case against Dr. Riyaz for making exorbitant purchases at the college.
Sources told Early Times that SVO has already reached the conclusion that Dr. Riyaz resorted to fraud while making purchases for the Dental College, Srinagar. Sources said that file for prosecution of Dr. Riyaz has almost complete and can be sent for prosecution to the concerned department any time.
"Some of the Ministers in the Government are trying their best to save the skin of Principal Government Dental College, Srinagar. It is due to this fact that there has been a delay in the prosecution of Dr. Riyaz. The case of fraud has been established against him and by this time he should have been prosecuted but that is not to be," said the sources.
It would be in place to mention here that SVO registered a case against Dr. Riyaz after it was established that he had purchased medical equipment for GDC Srinagar and GDC Jammu at exorbitant rates thus causing loss in crores of rupees to the State ex-chequer. The multi-crore purchase scandal came to the fore after revelations that came through a Right to Information (RTI) application moved by Tanveer Hussain Khan.
"After preliminary investigations that led to the revelation of purchase scandal the anti-corruption court in Srinagar started the formal investigations in the case. The inquiry established the fraud and finally a First Information Report (FIR) under FIR number 33/2012 under section 161 of Ranbir Penal Code was registered against GDC, Srinagar," said sources.
The inquiry officer probing the purchase established that equipment was purchased on exorbitant rates in order to cause monetary benefits to Principal GDC, Srinagar and officials of the company that supplied the equipment.
In his report to then Special Judge Anti-Corruption Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmad Mir, the inquiry officer had written that machine Orthophos X G5 DS Ceph had been procured on exorbitant rates in order to cause undue pecuniary benefits to Dr. Riyaz Farooq, Principal Government Dental College, Srinagar, V. L Narayan Proprietor M/s Villa India, New Delhi and Hamid Bashir of M/s Bashaw Enterprises, Karan Nagar, Srinagar.
After this Special Judge Anti-Corruption Kashmir directed SSP Vigilance Organization to register formal FIR in the case if in his opinion any ground for the same exists on the basis of the findings arrived at by the inquiry officer under the relevant provisions of law. The Vigilance Organization while carrying out probe also found that fraud has taken place and it was only after this FIR was filed.
The inquiry officer in his report said that he compared the rates of the equipment in the market and found that GDC Principal has paid more for the equipment so that he acquires benefits from the purchase. The rates of the equipment were also presented to the Anti-Corruption Judge by the inquiry officer in a tabular form in his report.
The 'emboldened' Principal GDC, Srinagar instead of accepting his wrong doings took on the people who deposed before the Vigilance Organization and stated truth before them during the course of investigations. This included a Registrar of the college and the career of the Registrar has virtually been ruined who was at the time of investigations working in the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery department.
The Registrar, Dr. Ajaz Naik was relieved while he was working as Registrar and following this the Principal GDC, Srinagar blocked the post of lecturer and the post was not referred to the Jammu and Kashmir Public Service Commission (JKPSC). Since Dr. Ajaz was the only eligible candidate for the post in 2012 the blockade of the post meant that he could not join GDC, Srinagar as lecturer in the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery department.
Dr. Riyaz did not issue the experience certificate of registrarship and tutor in favour of Dr. Aijaz in the first instance and same was issued after seven months with remarks of doubtful work and conduct. He also did not allow the former Registrar to attend the fellowship programme at Mexico for which he was selected.
Dr. Aijaz also could not join the Health Department as consultant since this post as well was not referred to JKPSC by the administrative department of GDC Srinagar. As he was not allowed to continue registrarship for three years he cannot apply for the post of Assistant Professor in any dental college both within the state and outside. As on date he is working as simple Assistant Surgeon in the health department. |
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