2 weeks Ago
PAINAVU: The vigilance arrested Idukki DMO L Manoj, who resumed service today after a stay on suspension, in a bribery case. The vigilance team caught him from his office while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 75,000 from the owner of a hotel Panoramic Kets located in Chithirapuram, for issuing a cleanliness certificate. He demanded Rs 1 lakh as bribe from the hotel owner.
However, it was later negotiated to Rs 75,000. Manoj demanded that the money be paid to the Google Pay number of Rahul Raj, a personal driver of his doctor friend. The hotel owner agreed to this.
Google Pay number was also given. The vigilance team got information about this and was monitoring both of them. His arrest was in between this.
The authorities had earlier suspended Dr Manoj after receiving many serious complaints. The action was taken after receiving complaints including from the health department. However, Manoj approached the Administrative Tribunal against this.
Manoj's claim was that he was suspended without hearing his explanation and without conducting an adequate investigation. The tribunal chaired by Justice C K Abdul Rahim observed that the DMO was suspended even before getting the preliminary investigation report. Following this, his suspension was frozen.
With this, he resumed service this morning. The government counsel was unable to produce the documents on which the allegations were based. In this situation, the suspension was frozen until the case is re-considered on October 15.
Though there are several complaints against Manoj, they are not specifying what they are. The government counsel produced only a copy of one of the complaints filed by the Ayurvedic Medical Officers' Association to the health minister. The government alleged that they have received complaints that the DMO is interfering in giving approval to private hospitals out of the way.
It is also claimed that the doctor who approached for NOC to start a private ayurvedic hospital had a bad experience, but it is not clear what action was taken on that application. The tribunal also pointed that the government was not able to convey many things including the bad experience the doctor faced..
