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91 illegal appointment cases detected in Jorhat

By Correspondent

JORHAT, Jan 3 � Exposing an extreme case of corruption in Jorhat district, the findings of a district-level screening committee have revealed that 91 employees were illegally appointed in various offices of State Health department and hospitals including Jorhat Medical College Hospital (JMCH), who have already withdrawn several crores from the government exchequer, as their salaries for the past some years.

Citing the detailed inquiry report and suggestions of the committee (received through RTI) at a press conference here on Friday, advocate Gautam Bora, Rintu Goswami and BJP State general secretary Santanu Pujari said the Deputy Commissioner of Jorhat has conspicuously refrained from taking any necessary action against the employees and the �corrupt� Health department officials and treasury officials who were found to be involved in the case of corruption.

Pujari had sought documents from the Health department officials through RTI procedures in 2012, suspecting illegalities in the appointment, but the department�s officials allegedly refrained from giving him the official papers. However, as his repeated requests for a probe into the case, ultimately compelled the district administration to launch an investigation into the case by a 12-member screening committee.

�The screening committee has observed that the placement of the field staff like vaccinator, SW and others in Jorhat Medical College and Hospital, Medical Institute and SHTO have created chaos in administration. Moreover, it is contrary to the interest of the public. The committee is of the opinion of stopping this kind of practice,� stated the screening committee�s report.

The 12-member screening committee, comprising an Additional Deputy Commissioner, medical officers and a treasury officer detected the involvement of district malaria officer A Rahman, Guna Kalita (UDA), Sushil Dutta (head assistant), Mala Phukan (LDA), Md Siddique (retired accountant) Prabhat Saikia (bill clerk), Lakhyanath Pegu (UDA) in the case. During the probe, the committee found some other surprising facts about the massive cover-up by senior officials who refrained from preventing the illegalities in the offices concerned. While some employees were found withdrawing their salary without attending office, two others produced fake appointment letters. �Those employees were neither appointed nor transferred from any other districts to Jorhat. As powerful politicians and a few journalists of the electronic media are involved in the case, the officers did not take any initiative to stop this illegality in the district,� advocate Rintu Goswami stated.

As the Deputy Commissioner is yet to take proper action against the corrupt officials to stop the illegal disbursement of public money from the treasury, advocate Goswami questioned the administrative role of the DC in this particular case.

In their submission to the Deputy Commissioner, the screening committee also suggested action against the officials involved as per legal provisions.

�The employees suspected to be involved in the case are still occupying their allotted tables in the same officilal capacity and thus creating problems in procuring official documents and related facts. Their continuation in service at the present positions will definitely hamper the process of investigation. The committee has expressed the opinion that the nexus existing in different branches of the Health department be broken up,� the report submitted to the Deputy Commissioner stated.

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