Fake appointments: Over dozen ex-CMOs of U.P.’s Ballia, seven clerical staff under scanner

Over a dozen former chief medical officers (CMOs) and seven clerical staff of Ballia district’s health department have come under scanner for appointments of over 100 candidates to Class 4 posts between 2007 and 2019 that have been found bogus

Over a dozen former chief medical officers (CMOs) and seven clerical staff of Ballia district’s health department have come under scanner for appointments of over 100 candidates to Class 4 posts between 2007 and 2019 that have been found bogus.

A probe was constituted following a complaint lodged on July 18, 2022 and the CDO of Ballia led it. (For Representation)

A probe was constituted following a complaint lodged on July 18, 2022 and the chief development officer (CDO) of Ballia led the probe. The probe report was filed on January 11, 2023. A total 143 appointments were finally found bogus out of the total 350 appointments under scanner.

Ballia is second district in the state after Mirzapur where anomalies in appointments in the health department have come to fore. In all, 40 candidates in the given list of Ballia district produced photocopies of the appointment letters and the office of the chief medical officer of Ballia too had the same dispatch number as mentioned in the photocopies of these appointment letters. “Hence these appointments do not seem genuine,” said the director (administration) in the health directorate in his letter to principal secretary (health),U.P.

“Moreover these 40 candidates did not produce joining reports. This states the appointments are fake,” said the director (administration) in the letter, recommending departmental disciplinary action against these 40 candidates.

Another lot of 103 candidates included in the final list of fake appointments could face termination. “The other 103 appointments are done in violation of the government order issued on September 8, 2010,” said the letter.

The recommendation has been made for lodging first information report (FIR) against responsible officials/staff for strict action. The government order issued on September 8, 2010, had stalled appointment on Class 4 level and had stated the vacancies be filled with contractual workers. Despite this, the appointments were made on Class 4 posts till 2019.

The report of the probe carried out under the CDO Ballia said none of the staff under scanner could produce original appointment letters but they submitted to the probe team the photocopies of the appointment letters. None of them submitted original/attested joining reports. Only a few brought applications they gave to get the job.

All these staff had their service books and submitted attested photocopies of the same with the probe team along with attested copies of the salary they are drawing. They could not produce certificates of validity of their postings. They, however, produced affidavits stating the information they gave was correct and owned by them.