Jalandhar civil surgeon office scam: 2 months on, no action on vigilance report

Vigilance SSP DS Dhillon and his team probed the matters and had sent the file to the headquarters to get approval from the higher authorities in mid-December to file a first information report (FIR) in this case.

It was around two months ago that vigilance officials had sent a report to the higher authorities on the anomalies in the purchase of power equipment worth lakhs by the civil surgeon’s office, but no action has been taken so far by the vigalnace headquarters.

The Hindustan Times had accessed some of the copies of invoices purportedly issued by the surgical firm, Dev Surgical Industries, but the firm owner had claimed that his company did not deal in such products.(HT File)

The vigilance sleuths had questioned former civil surgeon Dr RL Bassan and other officers as part of the probe into the purchase of electronic equipment and other items by the civil surgeon’s office between 2013 and 2015. 

Vigilance SSP DS Dhillon and his team probed the matters and had sent the file to the headquarters to get approval from the higher authorities in mid-December to file a first information report (FIR) in this case. 

The SSP said, “Irregularities were found and the file has been sent to the state vigilance department. We are waiting for their response.”  Sources said that the file is pending with the chief minister’s office for approval to register a case on basis of the inquiry report. 

The Hindustan Times had accessed some of the copies of invoices purportedly issued by the surgical firm, Dev Surgical Industries, but the firm owner had claimed that his company did not deal in such products. 

As per invoice number 28, the civil surgeon’s office had purchased an LCD computer, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system, a printer and a central processing unit (CPU) with a DVD writer from the firm. 

An invoice of Rs 38,867 was issued to the office with Rs 2,217 as VAT by the firm.  The invoice numbering 32 and 33, with the same bill amount for the same products, was also issued the same day. The same products were again purchased by the civil surgeon’s office on January 4, 2015, against invoice number 37 at the same amount. 

The VB had also recorded statements of nine members who were part of the then purchasing committee, including district health officer Dr Jasbir Singh; district family and welfare officer Dr Gurmeet Kaur; then assistant civil surgeons Dr BS Multani, Dr M Bali, and Dr Tarsem Singh; then Jandiala senior medical officer, medical officer Dr Surinder Kumar; then epidemiologist Dr Satish Kumar, account officer Sanjiv Kumar; storekeeper Raj Pal and employees of all community and primary health centres in this case.