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| Dental College Srinagar Principal on radar following criticism by students, faculty members | | Seems to be on way out | | Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Mar 18: Faculty members and students of Government Dental College (GDC) Srinagar gave vent to their anger, feelings and emotions while criticizing the role of the Principal of the college, Dr. Reyaz Farooq during their meeting with Minister of State for Health, Asiea Naqash.
Sources told Early Times that during the meeting held on Saturday in the evening the faculty members and students made the minister aware about the lack of discipline and mismanagement at the college. They criticized the Principal of GDC Srinagar for their lackadaisical attitude in solving the problems of faculty and students of the college.
"A senior faculty member of Department of Orthodontia told the minister that he had informed the Principal about the resentment brewing among the students against the Head of Department (HOD) Prof. Mohammad Mushtaq Najar some five months back. The faculty member said the Dr. Reyaz instead of acting against the HOD allowed the things to go out of control despite the warning that students might use anti-depressants," said sources.
It would be in place to mention here that the post graduate students of Orthodontia department have been on strike since the first week of January against the manhandling and slapping of one of their colleagues by Prof. Najar. The student had declined to do domestic jobs of the HOD following which he was beaten up.
The students of Orthodontia have been joined by under graduate and post graduate students of other departments and the students have proceeded on an indefinite strike. Due to the strike the class work has been suspended at the college and functioning of the clinics has been severely impacted.
"Some of the faculty members mentioned about the delay in making the publications public and said that same leads to delay in their promotion. The female faculty members told the minister that they are harassed by the college administration and they are not given the Annual Performance Report (APR) by the Principal of the college," said sources.
Sources said that the female faculty members told the minister that they are teased by Dr. Reyaz and they at times feel ashamed. All the faculty members told the minister that there is complete mismanagement at the college since the Principal is a caretaker Principal since 2004. There is complete dictatorship at the college with Dr. Reyaz acting like a dictator and a despot.
"The students told the minister that State Vigilance Organization (SVO) registered a case against the Principal in 2012, but still then he continues to be at the helm of affairs. They told the minister that they would not resume class work unless and until HOD Orthodontia is not removed. They also referred to Dr. Reyaz as caretaker Principal since 2004," said sources.
Sources said that the students also referred to the problems they face on account of lack of transport adding that there is no student-faculty interaction at the college. They also said that they should be allowed to form a union and welfare fund that has accumulated to more than one crore should be utilized for the activities it is meant for.
In the meantime, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Syed Abid Rasheed Shah has submitted his report about the students strike to Minister for Health, Bali Bhagat. The DC had been asked by the health minister to visit the college and get the first-hand account from students, faculty and administration about the crisis at the college. The DC has reportedly mentioned about the mismanagement at college in his report to the health minister.
Pertinent to mention here that SVO registered a case against Dr. Reyaz 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 Principal GDC, Srinagar.
The inquiry officer probing the case 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. Reyaz and some others.
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. |
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