Vadodara Municipal Corporation's medical officer in dock

VADODARA: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) issued a chargesheet to its medical officer Dr Devesh Patel. A series of charges have been made against Patel including those regarding irregularities in contracts and procurement.
Patel was in the dock ever since eight cattle died at the VMC's cattle pond in the Lalbaug. He had failed to inform VMC commissioner Dr Vinod Rao regarding the incident. He was asked to go on leave and issued a show cause notice asking him to furnish an explanation.
Patel was asked to resume duty about two weeks back, but charges of important functions of the health department were taken away from him and handed over to additional medical officer Dr Mukesh Vaidya.But Rao said that the present chargesheet was on issues regarding which a vigilance inquiry was being conducted even before the cattle pond incident. The report arrived recently following which the chargesheet was issued.
The chargesheet accuses Patel of ignoring glaring irregularities that had emerged in the tendering process for publicity contracts for the health department. The chargesheet states that it was evident that both the bidders had connived to ensure that the contract was bagged by one of them. The firm that got work was owned by a person who was a partner in a restaurant in which Patel's wife was a director.
The chargesheet states that Patel should have disclosed the fact that one of the bidders was a business partner of his wife while giving the contract. But Patel had failed in doing so in violation of the service rules of the state government that were also applicable in the VMC.
The chargesheet also points out that proper auditing of the accounts and expenses of the health department was not being done. It adds that the publicity bills of the firm whose owner was a business associate of Patel's wife were cleared without any verification taking them on their face value.