Rs 74-lakh bill for renovating bungalows
AIIMS spent a whopping `42 lakhs on the renovation of the bungalow of its director R.C. Deka who is under the scanner over allotting quarters on the campus to his Professor wife from his discretionary quota allegedly overlooking seniority of candidates.
According to the information received under RTI Act, the premier medical institution had spent over `42.13 lakhs on the renovation of the director’s bungalow in the year 2009-10 when Dr Deka was appointed as its chief.
The reply received by RTI activist Subhash Agrawal shows that major renovation work was undertaken in bungalows of the director, deputy director, dean, medical superintendent and senior financial adviser on which `73.6 lakhs were spent.
In a response to an RTI query whether the funds for said renovations were spent according to rules, AIIMS replied, “There were no such guidelines provided during the time of renovation of the above mentioned flats/bungalows.”
Dr Deepika Deka, who is a professor in the gynaecology department of AIIMS, justified the allotment saying she was eligible for the same being a senior professor at the institute.
According to rules, the director can allot a house on the campus to anyone using his discretionary quota and can overlook seniority and other factors while doing so.
The data provided shows that between 2006-07 to 2010-11, `42.13 lakhs was spent on the renovation of the director’s bungalow only in 2009-10 when he took over.
Five renovation related works were undertaken by the civil division-I on which `10.10 lakhs were spent while civil division-II spent `32.02 lakhs for eight works undertaken during the period.
Defending himself, the AIIMS director maintained that there was “nothing unusual” in the allotment of the house to his wife Dr Dipika Deka by him.
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