Amritsar, February 17
In gross violation of service rules, an officer in the Department of Social Security and Welfare of Children, who was a member of a selection committee, appointed her sister as social worker on the basis of a ‘fake certificate’, who continued to work under a ‘factitious name’ for more than four years.
The ‘scam’ was unearthed following an affidavit filed by a relative of the officer concerned. On the basis of the affidavit, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Gian Singh Bal was appointed inquiry officer.
As per information available with The Tribune, the selection committee consisting of the programme officer and the CDPO appointed one ‘Nirmal Kaur’ (niece of the CDPO) in 1997 as an ‘anganwadi’ worker at Kot Dharm Chand Kalan village in Tarn Taran.
Instead of Nirmal Kaur, one Sukhwinder Kaur, sister of the CDPO, would attend all “anganwadi” activities. The scam came to light when Mr Hari Singh, a former sarpanch of the village, a close relative of the CDPO, submitted an affidavit to the administration that the social worker who had been attending duty was not Nirmal Kaur.
The actual name of the social worker was Sukhwinder Kaur who had ‘fraudulently’ got herself selected by using the school certificates of her relative Nirmal Kaur. Nirmal Kaur is married and lives in Mumbai. She hardly visit the village.
When contacted, the inquiry officer, Mr Bal, said he was conducting an inquiry into the scam. He, however, refused to divulge details as it could hamper investigations.
The CDPO, however, denied that she had selected her sister as social worker. She claimed that her in-laws had changed the name of Nirmal Kaur after marriage and that had led to the confusion. She further claimed that the complaint was lodged due to personal enmity.
Interestingly, after the complaint was lodged against Sukhwinder Kaur, she resigned due to “domestic reasons”.
Sources said the inquiry into the scam was likely to be completed by next week. Sources revealed that the CDPO had taken other members of the selection committee into confidence while selecting her sister under the ‘fictitious name’.
