IMPHAL, Jul 5: A strong suspicion has been raised about possible anomalies in the selec-tion process of the Medical Superintendent (MS) of JNIMS, the lone medical college run by the State Government.
Former MS Prof Gopimohon took earned leave for one month before taking voluntary retirement. After that, the post of MS was lying vacant for almost three months, informed a well placed source.
After a gap of three months, former RIMS, Department of Paediatrics, Head Prof L Ranbir who had already retired on superannuation was appointed as JNIMS MS by an order issued by the JNIMS Director on April 26 this year.
Prof Gopimohon took voluntary retirement primarily due to lack of coordination among JNIMS officials.
Starting from the period of the former Director till the period of the incumbent Director, Prof Gopimohon tendered resignation letters four times. But his resignation letters were not approved.
Subsequently, he took earned leave for one month after which he took voluntary retirement.
Even though Prof Gopimohon had retired, there were officials in JNIMS who were eligible to succeed him.
Appointment of Prof L Ranbir as MS when there were officials in JNIMS eligible for the same post was highly questionable, said the source.
The order issued by the JNIMS Director on April 26 appointed Prof L Ranbir as MS in-charge of JNIMS for a period of six months.
According to the service rules of JNIMS, any candidate for the post of MS should not be older than 62 years but Prof Ranbir is now 63 years old.
Before appointment of Prof Ranbir as MS in-charge of JNIMS, Health Commissioner who is a member secretary of JNIMS Society sent a proposal to Chief Minister and JNIMS Society president O Ibobi on April 7 this year to engage a senior doctor as MS.
The proposal remarked that Prof L Ranbir was well qualified for the post of the MS and the proposal was approved by the Chief Minister on April 20. Some quarters have also been questioning as to why the Health Commissioner sent the proposal to the Chief Minister after by-passing JNIMS Society vice-president.
Even though JNIMS was established at the first place with the primary objectives of providing quality health care services and produce greater number of medical professors many anomalies were committed at JNIMS such as promotion of junior doctors after skipping senior doctors, conversion of daily wage staff as contract staff, appointment of Assistant Professors on ad-hoc basis etc, added the source.
