Rohtak, October 26
The exodus of senior faculty members from Pt B.D. Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) to the Gulf countries in search of greener pastures has become a perpetual problem for the institute.
While a few of them had left after getting their extraordinary leave sanctioned, a majority of them have (at least a dozen up to now) have gone abroad without getting their leave sanctioned and are being treated as absent.
During Mr Bansi Lal’s regime, the government took a tough stand and terminated the services of many faculty members for remaining wilfully absent from duty.
However, things changed as the new government took over. An Associate Professor (Paediatrics), who had gone to Saudi Arabia without the permission of the state government, was allowed to rejoin duty and given a minor punishment. Only two of his increments were stopped.
The doctor was charge-sheeted under Rule 7 and an inquiry was conducted which held him guilty for wilful absence from duty. The Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education (FCHM) , while permitting the doctor to re-join duty, vide an order dated March 16, had criticised the government (his own department) for not taking a decision within a reasonable period.
The doctor during his stay abroad had not vacated the government house allotted to him. Several lakhs of rupees have accumulated against him as rent.
The FCHM has also permitted the transfer of a government accommodation allotted to Dr Sushila Taxak who had gone abroad in the name of her husband, Dr Kuldeep Singh Lallar, even though the rules do not permit such a transfer. The FCHM, vide letter dated March 29, has advised the PGIMS to amend the rules for affecting the transfer of the house.
Dr Lallar first submitted his resignation to reportedly join his wife in Kuwait but later applied for six-month extraordinary leave. The leave is yet to be sanctioned. A senior faculty member said Dr Lallar was not entitled to extraordinary leave.
Another Associate Professor from the Orthopaedics Department had left to join a hospital set up by a multi-national company in Delhi. Sources said he was keen to rejoin the PGIMS.
He is among those charge-sheeted under Rule 7 and an inquiry is still going on against him. Before he could be permitted to rejoin duty, a civil suit was filed in a local court which restrained the government from permitting him to join duty.
A senior faculty member said lack of working facilities and discord among faculty members was the major cause for the situation. There were no facilities for research to update knowledge.
