PIL in HC for ED to probe RG Kar Medical College ‘fraud’ under ex-principal Sandip Ghosh’s watch
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed at the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday, seeking an Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College & Hospital. The case dates back to the tenure of Sandip Ghosh as the institution’s principal.
The petition, submitted by Akhtar Ali, the former Deputy Medical Superintendent of RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, was admitted by the Division Bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya.
On Wednesday, Ali made another petition at the single-judge Bench of Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj seeking protection in anticipation of a security threat for coming out against Ghosh. Justice Bharadwaj admitted the petition.
Ali had claimed to media persons that he intimated to the state Health Department two years ago about the financial irregularities at RG Kar Hospital, however, his initiative failed to evoke any response from them at that point in time.
That is precisely why he had approached the Calcutta High Court with a plea for a probe by a central agency, he claimed.
This legal action gains prominence in the wake of the West Bengal government’s recent announcement of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged financial misconduct at the hospital. The SIT will consist of senior Indian Police Service officers, including an officer of the rank of Inspector General, tasked with investigating the claims against Ghosh.
Opposition parties have already claimed that the formation of the SIT by the state government was nothing but eyewash and it had been created not with the intention of revealing the truth behind the financial irregularities at the hospital but rather with the motive of destroying evidence in the matter.
Ghosh is currently on leave after the Calcutta High Court last week gave a clear instruction to the state Health Department not to appoint him as the head of any medical college in the state until further orders.
The PIL adds to the ongoing scrutiny of the financial practices at RG Kar Medical College, reflecting the escalating concerns surrounding governance and transparency in the institution. The outcome of the ED probe and the SIT investigation is anticipated to shed further light on the allegations and hold accountable those implicated in the financial irregularities.
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