Complaint petition against Purnia DM, civil surgeon

Purnia: The row between district magistrate ( DM ) and civil surgeon (CS) in Purnia, which until now was making waves in public domain, has reached the law courts with a social activist filing a complaint petition against both the officials in the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Satyendra Pandey on Saturday.
A Dhamdaha-based social activist Shambhu Mandal, in the complaint petition, has called for an investigation and action into the charges and counter-charges brought by the two key district functionaries against each other which, besides involving serious allegations of financial irregularities and manipulation of official files, also includes demand of bribe.
The lawyer, Mohammad Mamnoon Alam, who filed the complaint petition on behalf of social activist Shambhu Mandal, averred that that the manner in which the CS, SN Jha, withdrew a sum of Rs 4 crore by forging documents and files for the purpose of purchasing medicines and the DM Rajesh Kumar allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from the CS and the District Project Manager (DPM) does not only speak of a deep-rooted malaise, but also undermines the very credibility and prestige of the state government.
The way the muck has been raised in the public involving the DM as well as the CS, involving whopping government funds and demand of bribe, this surely calls for probity and inquiry, the lawyer said in the petition.
The court of CJM has posted the case for next hearing on April 24.
Meanwhile, Purnia chapter of BHSA (Bihar Health Service Association), which has already rushed a big contingent of doctors to Patna to attend the state-level meeting on Sunday to mobilize support for the civil surgeonin his fight against the Purnia DM, has made it clear that they are determined to fight tooth and nail till the DM was sacked, a spokesman of BHSA told TOI on Sunday.