Chandigarh: A Military Court convened by the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 12 RAPID (Holding) Division, has found a Lieutenant Colonel of Army Medical Corps Guilty on five charges of irregularities in procurement of medicines at Military Hospital, Jammu, in the 2019-2020 fiscal.The case concluded on Friday. The prosecution case was conducted by Brigadier Dinesh Kumar Ahluwalia (retd). As many as 32 witnesses were examined, and the accused officer had eight defence counsel from the start of the trial to its conclusion.The officer was accused of violating provisions of Defence Procurement Manual-2009, thereby illegally benefiting two vendors. He had indented various ‘fancy fixed dose multi salt combination medicines’ in extraordinarily large quantities on non-approved (NA) basis or approved organization / regulatory board compliant (AORB) basis, which are generally not supplied in govt chain, said sources.Also, he had recommended the purchase of these medicines at a very high cost by selecting the two vendors in a restricted open tender enquiry, while acting as presiding officer of the technical evaluation board as well as the purchasing officer (PO) of the financial board — thus by total monopoly.The trial, held near Jourian Sector, Jammu, was presided over by a Colonel with three Lt Colonels as members. The matter came to light after complaints were filed in 2021-22, which led to a formal investigation by a court of inquiry, presided over by a Major General and two Brigadiers in 2022. It revealed large irregularities in local purchase of medicines from govt funds.Three officers — including a Major General, the Lt Col and a JCO — were attached for disciplinary purposes. The summary general court martial of the former Major General concluded recently and he was awarded a year’s rigorous imprisonment and cashiering from the service. The case of the JCO is on at Udhampur.
