‘Irregularities, manipulations' in Pharmacy Council of India elections: CBI raids chief's residence in Ahmedabad
The FIR against Patel was filed on the basis of a complaint received from Amit Biswas, Under Secretary in the Health Ministry, in March 2023, and following a preliminary enquiry (PE) carried out by the CBI since May 2023. The FIR was filed by an Inspector of the CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch I, New Delhi. Dr Patel; Vinod Kumar Tiwari, who is part of the trust that runs the Rameshwar Prasad Satya Narayan Mahavidyalaya, Ayodhya; Santosh Kumar Jha, a middleman; and other unknown public servants and private persons were booked under Indian Penal Code Section 120-B read with 420, as well as Sections 7, 7A and 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The PE focused on allegations of irregularities and manipulations in elections of PCI in 2022, co-opting of six members into the Executive Committee in violation of the Pharmacy Act, and grant of approval of pharmacy colleges.
According to the FIR, the enquiry allegedly revealed that after being elected as the President of the Pharmacy Council of lndia in the 114th meeting of central council held on April 6, 2022, Dr Patel appointed some of the members to key posts in the PCI. Besides, a number of other members were facilitated by him by way of their nomination as co-opted members, member of Executive committee or other committees, including the Finance Committee. As many as 91 members were accommodated/nominated to some post or the other. The agenda for the 114th meeting was only for election of the President. However, going beyond the scope of the agenda, Dr Patel elected Dr (Ms) Nilimanka Das as a member of the EC and six others as co-opted members, thereby wresting control of the Executive Committee. Out of these six members, Dr Dharmendra Singh was later elected to the EC. Further, the said six co-opted members were given a blanket permission to be part of the EC for the whole year and also to participate in the decision-making process for approval of colleges/institutes. In subsequent meetings of the Executive Council, all decisions were made without putting the item to vote.
Regarding approval to pharmacy colleges, the CBI FIR said that when the PE team visited Rameshwar Prasad Satya Narayan Mahavidyalaya, in UP's Ayodhya, it was found that it was in a dilapidated condition, without any faculty, infrastructure or students. Similar inspection visits to about 23 institutes/colleges in UP, MP, Gujarat and Rajasthan that were approved during the tenure of Dr Patel also showed that those colleges/institutes did not fulfil the laid down norms and were deficient.
During the PE, it was revealed that six colleges — SSD College of Pharmacy, Gagan College of Pharmacy, Shanti Devi Jain Degree College, Veer Shivaji College of Pharmacy, and Bhagwati College of Pharmacy in UP and Heyward College of Pharmacy in Madhya Pradesh — were also approved by the EC headed by Dr Patel despite negative reports given by the inspectors.
The PE thus allegedly revealed 'glaring instances' of criminal misconduct, exchange of bribe, approval of colleges despite non-compliance of norms and other such acts by Dr Patel and his accomplices that prima facie disclosed 'commission of offences'.
The facts unearthed during the PE prima facie revealed that Dr Patel and others acted in criminal conspiracy with each other and unknown public servants and private persons by way of abusing official position as public servants and acting dishonestly in according approval to colleges in lieu of undue advantage which required thorough investigation.
Further investigation is underway.
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