Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
srinagar, Feb 23: With the General Administration Department (GAD) submitting the list of 'tainted' officers to the office of Governor Narendra Nath Vohra today, all eyes are on the Governor, as and when he will issue 'punitive' orders against Principal, Government Dental College (GDC), Srinagar, Dr. Riyaz Farooq for his role in the embezzlement at the college.
Sources told Early Times that Dr. Riyaz's name figures in the list that was submitted by the GAD to Governor Vohra. The submission of the list came close on the heels of directions issued by Governor to the GAD in this regard last week. Vohra had in fact issued warning to the GAD higher ups that they should be ready to face the music in case they fail to submit the list within the stipulated time.
"A senior bureaucrat in the GAD tried his best to save Principal, GDC Srinagar so that his name does not figure in the list of tainted officials. However, the bureaucrat did not take any chance and as such the name of Dr. Riyaz could not be omitted from the list of tainted officials in the State," said sources.
Sources said that the GAD 'babu' tried his best to save the skin of Principal, GDC Srinagar and the file related to the wrong doings of Dr. Riyaz were not routed to the higher level by the bureaucrat. But this time around he could not ensure that Principal, GDC Srinagar's name is omitted from the list of 'tainted' officials.
"Despite the recommendation of Vigilance Organization (VO) to take 'punitive' action against Principal, GDC Srinagar, the GAD did not act on the same. The VO wrote a letter to GAD and asked the department to take 'punitive' action against Dr. Riyaz since a First Information Report (FIR) stands registered against him in the multi-crore purchase scandal that surfaced at GDC Srinagar some years back," said sources.
Sources while quoting the letter dashed by VO said that Dr. Riyaz is harassing the witnesses in the case that stands registered against him. Through the letter the VO recommended to GAD to remove Principal, GDC Srinagar without any further delay. Although, the letter was sent in October last year no action was taken against Dr. Riyaz and he continues to be Principal, GDC Srinagar.
"Commissioner Secretary, GAD Gazanfar Hussain had to forward the letter to Chief Secretary B R Sharma for necessary action along with a note. However, to the reasons best known to him the Commissioner Secretary blocked the removal of Dr. Riyaz as Principal GDC Srinagar," said sources.
Sources said that Gazanfar had returned the file to his lower ups in the department and asked them to speak over the matter. This was despite the fact that vigilance wing of GAD had given its nod for the prosecution of Principal, GDC Srinagar. The officials of the vigilance wing of GAD are waiting for the 'seal' of approval for the prosecution of Dr. Riyaz from their higher ups, but the same did not happen.
It would be in place to mention here that Dr. Riyaz was booked by State Vigilance Organization (SVO) for embezzlement at the GDC Srinagar. 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. Dr. Riyaz virtually decimated the career of Dr. Aijaz Naik, the main person who exposed the scam. Dr. Aijaz was denied the certificate of registrarship by Principal, GDC Srinagar and as such he could not join the college as lecturer in dentistry.
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 FIR under FIR number 33/2012 under section 161 of Ranbir Penal Code was registered against Principal GDC, Srinagar.
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 Basha Enterprises, Karan Nagar, Srinagar. |
