CDMO ticked off, told to cancel all appointments

BALASORE: The Health Department has directed the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) of Balasore to cancel all the appointments made during his tenure with immediate effect. A communication issued in this regard indicated that CDMO S. Iqbaluddin Ahmed would bear the expenses to fight in his favour in the court if any legal case arises out of the cancellation of appointments and the department will not be held responsible. Further, it has also been mentioned that if he does not go by the order in time, he has to pay their salary from his pocket and there will be no expenditure from the State exchequer. The order came following a high-level probe by a team of health officials after a report on illegal appointments of Class-IV employees in the district headquarters hospital was published in these columns. It was reported that rules and guidelines were violated in the selection of contractual workers for Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS). Sources said, in two phases, the CDMO had appointed 97 persons as Class-IV employees on daily wage basis. While a circular of the Finance Department says that the appointments should be done through a service provider, the CDMO, in violation, had directly selected the persons and appointed them. This apart, it is learnt that the CDMO had appointed more persons than the number of vacant posts, which will put the department in the dock. As per the guideline, through a tender, a service provider should have been appointed to handle the selection of Class-IV employees. Besides, as per the instruction of the Health and Family Welfare Department, the appointments should have been  completed within 22 days, which was not followed in this case.The CDMO, however, said he was yet to receive any such order. He clarified that there had been no violation of any guideline and the contractual postings  made as per the circular issued by the Health Department.