AIIMS takes strict action against 6 officers for corruption

New Delhi: Six AIIMS staffers, including a top level officer, have been sacked or asked to proceed on compulsory retirement on charges of corruption this year. After a long-drawn inquiry, a Group-A officer was found guilty of purchasing hospital articles at high rates from various sources despite the existence of a rate contract. He was also charged with supplying sub-standard goods to the hospital causing loss to AIIMS, institute sources said. The senior officer was asked to proceed on compulsory retirement and 50 per cent of his pension was ordered to be withdrawn for the next five years, they said. The decision was taken at a governing body meeting of the AIIMS two weeks ago, the sources said. In the same case, two middle-level officers were penalised for similar charges. While a sanitation officer was asked to go in for a compulsory retirement, a junior stores officer`s pension was ordered to be withdrawn for two years. An assistant administration officer (group B) was penalised with a 25 per cent cut in pension for overwriting and insertions in a tender for an engineering work. Three other group C officers were sacked for embezzlement of pension amounts. The trio was charged with fraudulent withdrawal of funds meant for pension benefits of ex- employees of the institute by depositing the cheques in their own accounts illegally. All these orders were issued by Chief vigilance officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi between March and July. The sources also said a post-retirement extension granted to a superintendent engineer, who headed AIIMS engineering wing, was also done away with on the recommendations of the vigilance department. The senior officer who retired in September last year was granted a year`s extension on contract by the hospital administration without vigilance clearance. The extension granted to him was opposed on the grounds that it was a violation of AIIMS Regulations 1999. The matter was then investigated and on basis of recommendations of the vigilance department, the extension of service granted to the officer was revoked, the sources said. PTI