PATNA: The axe has finally fallen on Dr Gopal Krushna Pal, Executive Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Patna, who has been removed from his post following allegations of abusing his official position to obtain an OBC non-creamy layer certificate for his son to facilitate his admission.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued an order removing Dr Pal from his position with immediate effect. Dr Saurabh Varshney, the Executive Director of AIIMS Deoghar, has been appointed to look after the affairs of AIIMS Patna as the acting Executive Director on a temporary basis.
The order, issued by Arun Kumar Biswas, an Undersecretary at the Union Health Ministry on Monday, stated: “Dr Varshney will hold additional charge as Executive Director with immediate effect for three months or until the appointment of a regular Executive Director or until further order, whichever is earliest.”
The development follows a recommendation by a three-member inquiry committee, led by Manashvi Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which advised that Dr Pal be relieved of his responsibilities immediately.
The inquiry revealed that Dr Pal misused and abused his official position to secure an OBC (Other Backward Classes) non-creamy layer certificate for his son, Dr Auroprakash Pal, to facilitate his admission to the postgraduate Doctor of Medicine course in Microbiology at AIIMS Gorakhpur.
Sources indicate that Dr Pal had previously held the additional charge as Executive Director of AIIMS Gorakhpur for nine months. He was divested of all responsibilities on 27 September, the day the inquiry committee submitted its report to the Union Government.
The committee's report disclosed that Dr Pal, despite being fully aware of the rules, regulations, and government-issued guidelines on the classification of candidates as creamy or non-creamy layer in the OBC category, “preferred to mend, bend, and circumvent the system”.
Dr Pal, a Professor of Physiology at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in Puducherry, was on lien to the Health Ministry to serve as the Executive Director of AIIMS Patna from 3 July 2022. His three-year tenure was supposed to end on 2 July 2025.