PIMS Jalandhar mgmt fails to cough up Rs 63-crore fee, govt to file FIR
Vishav Bharti
Chandigarh, September 9
Punjab Government has given approval for initiating criminal proceedings against the management of the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalandhar, for not paying fee as per the concessionaire agreement.
Sources in the government revealed that the file to lodge an FIR against the PIMS was moved by Special Chief Secretary, Medical Education and Research for approval from the Health and Medical Education Minister. Apart from that, a bank guarantee of the college of Rs 25 crore lying with the government has also been encashed by the government.
Health and Medical Education Minister Dr Balbir Singh confirmed that he has given approval to lodge FIR against PIMS management. “The matter is being examined by our legal experts. Apart from the FIR, we have encashed their bank guarantee,” he said.
Last year, the Department of Medical Education and Research had found that the PIMS management was supposed to pay Rs 63 crore as fee to the government as per the terms and conditions of concessionaire agreement.
It was found that the college management had not paid the annual fee as per the concessionaire agreement since 2016. The government had been consistently pursuing the management to pay it but they did not do so despite Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s orders.
The construction of PIMS was started by the government during the Beant Singh regime. The project on 55 acres was handed over to a trust being run by SAD leader Surjit Rakhra for “peanuts” in 2011. It was part of the concessionaire agreement that they will pay Rs 16 crore every year to the government.
However, during the inspection of records of the PIMS carried out by the government, it was found that the college has done various violations of the concessionaire agreement. They were supposed to charge at PGI rates, but they kept on charging the patients at CGHS rates. They were required to build a separate building for super specialty block but they started services in the existing building.
