Srinagar June 15 : A grave case of financial irregularities has surfaced at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), raising serious concerns over the misuse of internal hospital funds, procedural violations in contractor payments, and systemic corruption allegedly entrenched within the institute.
According to well-placed sources, a firm M/S Gousia Fayaz—entrusted with sanitation services—has become a focal point of controversy. Despite its bank accounts being seized by the Income Tax Department over alleged financial irregularities, payments to the firm have continued through internal resources, bypassing the standard budgetary procedure.
Sources confirm that cheque payments were recently issued to the personal account of the contractor, raising red flags over potential violations of financial protocols. These payments, made from the sanitation wing, have drawn sharp criticism from within the administration itself.
Speaking exclusively to this Kashmir News Bureau the Director Finance, SKIMS, clarified the context of the payment as
“A committee was constituted on the directions of the Director SKIMS to examine the situation after sanitation employees went on strike. Based on the committee’s recommendations and the urgency of the Eid festival, one month’s payment was released from internal hospital funds as an emergency measure to restore sanitation services. The firm has been clearly instructed to settle its pending accounts immediately, failing which future payments will only be processed through the regular budgetary route,” he said.
However, the misuse of internal revenue does not end there. Reliable sources allege that the public parking revenue, which generates lakhs in monthly collections, has been diverted from its designated revenue head and instead operated as an unauthorized corpus fund by select officials. This alleged misappropriation has evaded audit trails and bypassed institutional accountability mechanisms.
Further, despite the completion of the tender process for managing SKIMS’s public parking and identification of a successful bidder, the Letter of Intent (LOI) has not yet been issued. Insiders allege that officials within the procurement division are deliberately stalling the formalization of the contract, allegedly in exchange for monetary kickbacks from the same contractor, M/S Gousia Fayaz, to maintain the status quo.
These revelations point to a pattern of unchecked financial indiscipline, with observers calling for an immediate and thorough investigation into the institute’s financial dealings from 2015 onwards, covering sanitation contracts, procurement practices, and internal fund utilization. (KNB)
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