Former civil surgeon, accounts officer booked for defalcation

The city police have booked a retired civil surgeon and an accountant working under the National Health Mission (NHM) in an old case of embezzlement worth Rs 32 lakh on Saturday. An inquiry in the matter was conducted by Riputapan Singh Sandhu, DSP, City Division, on the complaint of the Health Department, Punjab.

The police informed mediapersons here on Sunday that the retired civil surgeon Dr Kamalpal Sidhu and accounts officer Harashdeep Singh of the NHM are accused of committing irregularities in connection with a grant of Rs 31.83 lakh issued by the Health Department under ‘Punjab Motia Mukat Abhiyan’ (Chief Minister’s Cataract-Free Mission).

The matter was brought to the notice of the department by nodal officer of the scheme, Dr Navneet Singh, more than three years ahead of the Vidhan Sabha election. The accused Dr Kamalpal Sidhu was to retire a few days after the irregularities were allegedly committed by violating a number of conduct rules of the department.

The accused civil surgeon, Dr Kamalpal Sidhu, in connivance with accounts officer Harashdeep Singh, prepared 66 bills under the amount of Rs 50,000 under the jurisdiction of passing the bills himself in a single day.

The accused officer neither called any tender nor took the consent of the nodal officer or the members of the committee to purchase the equipment. The department had issued an order to send back the amount issued under the Cataract-Free Mission which he ignored. The accused did not abide by the instructions of the Election Commission and purchased the equipment worth Rs 32 lakh. The police officer said that the accused have been booked under section 409, 417, 465, 471 and 120-B of the BNS and section 7-C of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The police is thinking of releasing a Look Out Circular (LOC) against the accused.