52 health staff suspended over fake marksheets

CH NEWS, KALABURAGI Fifty-two Group-D employees appointed to the Health and Family Welfare Department in 2015 have been suspended after the SSLC marks cards submitted by them during recruitment were reportedly found to be fake. The suspension orders were issued on September 22 by M Rajani, Director and Disciplinary Authority, Department of Health and Family Welfare Services. The suspended employees are from Kalaburagi, Yadgir and Bidar districts and were working at various government hospitals, community health centres and primary health centres. According to the order, 11 employees from Kalaburagi district have been suspended. They include four from Wadi (Junction), five from Gundagurthi and one each from Shahabad and Kalagi.The list also includes employees working at Station Ganagapur and Deval Ganagapur in Afzalpur taluk; Malkhed and Mudhol in Sedam taluk; Chincholi Taluk Hospital; the 500-bed District Hospital; District Hospital; the District Filariasis Control Unit; the District Health and Family Welfare Officer’s office; Sonta; Government Public Hospital, Jewargi; Nelogi and Yadrami. Employees from Sagar, Doranahalli, Hemanur, Shahapur, Vanadurga and Surpur in Yadgir district and Chitguppa Health Centre in Bidar district have also been suspended.The order states that the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board and the office of the Additional Commissioner of the School Education Department detected substantial discrepancies between the marks mentioned in the SSLC marks cards submitted by the employees for recruitment and their actual marks. Detailed reports were subsequently submitted to the Health Department. The suspended employees are entitled to subsistence allowance during the suspension period, according to the order. They have also been transferred on paper to various health centres in Vijayapura, Yadgir, Bidar and Raichur districts. However, the matter has raised questions over the department’s recruitment verification process. The suspension orders and the orders assigning new places of posting were reportedly issued on the same day, September 22, prompting questions over how the posting orders were processed despite the disciplinary action. The case also raises concerns over how discrepancies in the educational credentials of the employees appointed in 2015 allegedly remained undetected for several years.