News Analysis India

Tag: Calcutta

  • Calcutta HC asks WB government to give account of money spent on purchase of medicines in last five years

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Observing that taxpayers’ money, of which the state is a trustee, cannot be wasted by letting “precious medicines” lie unused at a hospital when other facilities are in dire need of those, the Calcutta High Court on Friday asked the Bengal government to apprise it of the amount spent on purchase of medicines in the last five years.

    The government has to make plans to save money wherever possible, a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee said, while hearing a suo motu writ petition on a news report which pointed out that medicines worth Rs one crore may get wasted at Beliaghata ID Hospital as these are allegedly nearing their expiry dates.

    “One needs to keep in mind that taxpayers’ money of which the state is a trustee, cannot be allowed to be wasted like this. The entire mind and energy should not be used for framing the schemes to make the voters happy,” the bench further observed.

    The matter was taken up suo motu earlier this week after Justice Shivakant Prasad brought to the notice of the Acting Chief Justice a news report published in a Hindi daily that expressed apprehension over waste of medicines at the Bengal government-run Beliaghata ID hospital here.

    The division bench directed that a notice be issued to the Bengal government through its chief secretary and the secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department.

    The bench directed the government to apprise the court of “the amount spent on purchase of different medicines and other consumables in West Bengal during the last five years in different hospitals and medical colleges and the amount of medicines which had to be disposed of as the same could not be utilised before their expiry date”.

    The state government was also directed to inform the court if any software was used for monitoring the purchase, supply and utilisation of medicines in different hospitals. The court further sought to know if all hospitals of the state are connected to a computer network.

    The division bench observed that there is a need to develop a mechanism which would help check wasteful expenditure on purchase of medicines in different hospitals and medical colleges. The matter will be taken up for hearing again on July 8.

  • Director of IIM, Calcutta quits amid tiff with teaching faculty

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: First woman Director of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) Anju Seth has stepped down from her post in the backdrop of confrontation with the teaching faculty.

    She resigned from the post one year before end of her tenure in the premier management institute.

    She has sent a letter to Union Ministry of Education asking them to relieve her of the responsibilities.

    “Yes, I have sent in my resignation letter on Sunday. I am not well right now. I’m disappointed as I’m leaving a dream only partially fulfilled; it is not what I had sought,” she told PTI.

    She had taken two days sick leave before putting in her papers.

    Seth, the first woman Director of the prestigious IIM-C had taken over the charge in 2018.

    Dean of External Relations Prashant Mishra will be helming the institution temporarily, sources in the IIM-C said.

    Her decision to quit came amid a tiff with the teaching faculty of the institution.

    A section of teachers of the 60-year-old IIM-C had recently complained to Union Ministry of Education about Seth’s conduct.

    Seth had countered the accusation, saying that the faculty was trying to curb her powers as the director of IIM-C, a source in the institute said.

    The source said in her resignation letter Seth had stated that certain groups in the premier B-school were resisting her bid of improve governance, bring reforms in the existing academic matters and encroaching on her executive powers.

    “A majority of the faculty had turned against her accusing her of high handedness and she also lost the confidence of many board,” the source said.

    In her letter, Seth hoped for a bright future for the instituion.

    “I’m proud that I tried my best and that I have disrupted the conventional barriers that were holding back the opportunity for IIM Calcutta to emerge as a world-class institution,” she said.

    Hoping that in the future the institute will “continue to build on a culture of transparency and accountability as core values,” Seth said “I have been privileged to work with many dedicated and talented people and wish them the very best for the future”.

    Indicating she won’t nurture any bitter memories, Seth concluded, “I continue to be a proud alumnus of IIM Calcutta and shall always be.

    ” Seth had served as the Professor of Management at Virginia Tech, US and also held the position of Professor of Business Administration at the University of Illinois.