Notices have no effect on corrupt DHO

Ramesh appointed 10 nurses without ZP CEOs approval; involved in similar incident last year

Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer N Shantappa had issued a show cause notice to Ramesh seeking to know why action should not be taken against him after he was found violating rules in the appointment of nurses to the First Referral Units (FRU) in the district. Although Ramesh was supposed to reply within three days of the receipt of the notice, the officer has not replied even after 37 days.

Background

The problem arose during the appointment of nurses to the newborn care units of the First Referral Units (FRU-Taluk hospital) at Malur and Srinivaspur in the district under National Rural Health Mission.

According to a proposal submitted to the joint meeting of the National Rural Health Mission and the District Health and Family Welfare Society on November 2, 2010, preference should be given to nurses who are already appointed and are permanent employees or to nurses who had been transferred, during the appointment.

Only then can nurses who are appointed on contract basis be considered. The proposal had been approved in the meeting.

According to the rules, the list of candidates selected should have been sent to the Society president and ZP CEO N Shantappa for approval by the District Health Officer. However, DHO Ramesh did not submit the documents  but issued the employment order to 10 nurses on December 3, 2010 without the approval of ZP Chief Executive Officer.

Further, in violation of the decision taken at the meeting, nurses were directly appointed to the newborn care units without giving preference to nurses already appointed.

CEO notice

CEO Shantappa then issued a notice to the DHO on December 27, asking him to  explain  why the government should not be recommended to take strict action against him under CCA rules for violating rules during appointment.

The notice also clearly stated that written reply should be given within three days of the receipt of the notice and that the non-reply by Ramesh will be taken as his approval for recommending action against him.

Action recommended

Shantappa said Ramesh had failed to reply even after 37 days and this reflected his negligence. He added that he (Shantappa) had written a  letter to the government recommending action against the DHO.

The CEO has now ordered to check all the documents of the District Health Officer after complaints about irregularities in other appointments have also been lodged.

A two-member team comprising ZP Chief Accountant and Planning Officer will check all the documents at the District Health Office in a few days from now.

“Based on the report submitted by the team, a notice would be served to the officers concerned. If the guilty is a I or II grade officer, a letter will be written to government to take action. However, in case of III or IV grade officers, I will conduct an inquiry,” he added.

Not first time

This is not the first time that DHO Dr Ramesh has been served a notice with regard to irregularities in the appointment of nurses. In October last year, the then Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer had served a similar notice to the DHO.

Ramesh had appointed C G Meenakshi and V Netravati to the Primary Health Centre in Annihalli in Kolar taluk and the Primary Health Centre at Doddashivara in Malur taluk respectively without the approval of the then ZP CEO. Further,  Ramesh had forged the dates of previous employment orders approved by the CEO to issue the orders.

The then Chief Executive Officer had not only issued a show cause notice but also demanded submitting of all the documents pertaining to appointment of nurses  during the previous one year.