Probe detects anomalies in hiring of 12 BFUHS staffers

Balwant Garg

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, January 12

The Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) has issued show-cause notices to 12 of the 15 data entry operators who were recruited in March 2007.

Dr Raj Bahadur, Vice Chancellor, BFUHS, said an inquiry was conducted after anonymous complaints alleging irregularities in these appointments were received last year. The probe report was sent to the Secretary, Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER). The notices were served after the Secretary’s go-ahead, the V-C said.

As per the inquiry conducted by Dr Arvind Sharma, officials bent rules to favour candidates, even though some of them did not appear for the interview or had a lower rank on the final merit list. Besides doing injustice to the deserving candidates, some selections in the promotion quota caused financial losses to the university, the report claimed.

Three candidates were given the highest marks among 95 interviewees, even though they fared badly in the computer test and got low marks for academic qualification and experience. The inflated marks elevated the trio from 32nd, 45th and 46th positions on the merit list to 6th, 7th and 8th, respectively.

Rajwinder Singh, who was 8th on the final list, was replaced by another candidate after his interview marks were tampered with.

Unexplained code words such as “NW” and “NE” were written beside the ranks of candidates. Two persons, who were working as helpers on the campus, were appointed data entry operators after rejecting eligible candidates on flimsy grounds. Later, both were promoted to the post of senior assistant, the report said.

The inquiry revealed that four candidates ranked 15th, 45th, 67th and 68th were selected as they were “already working in the university and their conduct was good”.

No irregularity was detected in the appointment of three of the 15 data entry operators.

Selections caused losses to varsity: Report

• As per the inquiry report, officials bent rules to favour candidates, even though some of them did not appear for the interview or had a lower rank on the final merit list 
• Besides doing injustice to the deserving candidates, some selections in the promotion quota caused financial losses to the university, the report claimed