STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Even as Drugs Control Organisation (DCO) in Jammu and Kashmir has been supervising with tacit understanding the free for all situation to enable and facilitate unscrupulous pharmaceutical establishments and chemists to sell spurious medicines, its officers have mastered in remaining out of the shackles of law by manipulation.
Never ever in the recent past has the DCO been instrumental in booking chemists for selling spurious drugs or smuggled hospital supplies but its officers continue to relish better of both the worlds-enjoying official status and perks and partnering with unscrupulous and corrupt elements to fleece common man by playing with his life.
In a swift judicial dispensation, Lotika Khajuria, Drug Controller Jammu got a relief on Friday with Jammu and Kashmir High Court staying the order passed by Special Judge Anti-Corruption Jammu, asking Crime Branch to seek sanction for her prosecution for her alleged involvement in an infamous spurious drug scam. The relief came within three days after the lower court passed the order. The court had found sufficient evidence on record with regard to her involvement, like other members of the purchase committee, and observed that she cannot be selectively arrayed or left out.
However, Justice Bansi Lal Bhat of High Court Jammu wing observed that since Lotika Khajuria was aggrieved with the order passed by Special Judge Anti-Corruption Jammu and keeping in view the factual position, as contended in the petition, there was no justification to order seeking sanction for prosecution of the petitioner.
The Judge issued notice to the respondents’ returnable within two weeks and ordered that till next date of hearing, operation of the impugned order passed by Special Judge Anti Corruption, Jammu to the extent it pertains to the petitioner shall remain stayed.
Earlier, the Bench stated that since it has been contended that the learned Judge had himself observed in the order that no sanction for prosecution was sought against the petitioner, as according to Investigating Officer of the Crime Branch , she had been accorded benefit under Section 169 CrPC on the ground that she was neither a party to checking/evaluation of technical bids nor had conducted any scrutiny of the documents.
According to the case history, on 2nd April, 2013, an alert was sounded for stopping the sale and consumption of Maximizin-625 , which was seized in Srinagar and found spurious. On enquiry it transpired that the owners of M/S Lifeline Pharmaco Surgicals (one of the accused firms in the spurious drugs scam) had admitted during investigations that the said “spurious/substandard drug” (Maximizin-625) was also supplied by them to Shri Maharja Gulab Singh (SMGS) Hospital, Jammu, and Gandhi Nagar Hospital, Jammu. The order had been approved by a purchase committee comprising Dr Madhu Khullar, the then Director Health Services and Chairperson of the Purchase Committee, Lotika Khajuria, the then Deputy Drug Controller, Reva Gupta, the then Administrator Associated Hospitals and Joginder Kumar. However, the Challan against them could not be produced for want of Government sanction for launching prosecution against them.
However, on 20th June, 2013, the Crime Branch presented charge-sheet in the court of Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu against 14 persons and approached the Government for according sanction to prosecute the serving Government servants, whose involvement had also surfaced in the scam. Those charge-sheeted included Ashok Kumar Raina and Amardeep Raina, sons of Baskar Nath Raina of Vinayak Nagar, Akhil Kumar Gadoo, son of I.K Gadoo of Tomal Colony Bohri, Prem Prakash Barnwal, son of Ganesh Prasad of UP and his wife Manjula Barnwal, both Directors of M/s Sanative Pharmaceuticals, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, son of Krishen Murari Agarwal of Patna (Chemist in M/s Sanative Pharmaceuticals), Rahul Kumar Singh, son of Triguna Singh of Chapra Bihar, Mukesh Agarwal, Proprietor of M/s Suraj Enterprises, care of Yogesh Dhawan of Satya Vihar Dehradun, Zubair Ahmad, son of Sain Mohammad of Jasola Vihar near Delhi, Neeraj Agarwal, son of Salekh Chandra Agarwal of New Delhi, Sunil Gupta, son of B K Gupta of Channi Himmat, Dr A K Sharma, the then Medical Superintendent SMGS Hospital, Dr Aniece Choudhary, the then Principal Government Medical College Jammu and Dr S.C Khajuria, the then Assistant Director Family Welfare Department.
They were charged under under Sections 274, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 12-B RPC read with Section 5(2) PC Act, 2006.
On 10th December, 2013, Crime Branch Jammu produced supplementary Challan against against Dr Madhu Khullar, then Director Health Services Jammu and Chairperson Purchase Committee-II, Reva Gupta then Administrator Associated Hospitals Jammu and Member Purchase Committee-II GMC Jammu and Joginder Kumar then Accounts Officer GMC Jammu and Member Purchase Committee-II GMC Jammu. However, the supplementary Challan did not contain the name of Lotika Khajuria as accused.
According to Challan produced by Crime Branch, Lotika Khajuria had been given benefit of Section 169 CrPC and the Court was requested to drop Lotika Khajuria from the list of accused in the case.
