New Delhi: Corrupt officials in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare are delaying action in a case related to massive irregularities and corruption in the country’s premier Sports Injury Centre (SIC) at the Safdarjung Hospital.
A Special Audit of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which was done by a government committee following several complaints, had found several irregularities in the SIC’s functioning. However, no action was taken on the issue. The matter was referred to the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) after it was brought to light by The Sunday Guardian report “Babus shielding culprits in sports injury hub scam” in its edition dated 9 February. The scam allegedly took place during the tenure of Dr Deepak Chaudhary as SIC’s Director.
A committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Dr A.K. Gadpayle which allegedly tried to hush up the matter despite the fact that the Special Audit clearly pointed that GFR (General Financial Rules) and CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) guidelines were violated to cause huge loss to the government. The committee report was submitted to the Ministry which was rejected by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) on the basis of facts and circumstances and in view of the seriousness of the irregularities. Then it was decided by Special Secretary Sanjeeva Kumar and Secretary Health to refer the matter to the Vigilance department for further appropriate action.
Subsequently, the file was sent to the Vigilance cell within the Ministry about six weeks ago. However, the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the Health Ministry Alok Saxena, instead of sending it to Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), sent it back to the Ministry’s Hospital division, which has Gayatri Mishra as the Joint Secretary. The file is pending there at present.
Sources said this was nothing, but delaying tactic. “The CVO should have sent the file to CVC in order to ensure impartial enquiry into the matter rather than going in for in-house investigation once again as internal enquiries have already pointed towards irregularities. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan should take note of it as justice delayed is justice denied,» a source said.
Contacted by this newspaper, CVO Alok Saxena said: “I do not look after this work. There is another officer looking after it.” When asked, he said the matter is being looked after by Joint Secretary Gayatri Mishra. Mishra, however, could not be contacted for her remarks. A text messages sent to her remained unanswered.
The SIC was established at Safdarjung Hospital with an objective of providing comprehensive surgical, rehabilitative and diagnostic services under one roof for specialised treatment of sports and joint disorders. It was also considered that the centre will also benefit the participants of the Commonwealth Games in October 2010.