Former SKIMS assistant professor discharged in case over alleged concealment of citizenship status
Srinagar: A Srinagar court has discharged a former Assistant Professor at the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, in a cheating case over allegations that she concealed her citizenship status while applying for a faculty position. The court observed that the prosecution had failed to produce sufficient material to establish a case against her.
The case stemmed from an FIR registered in 2022 by the Economic Offences Wing of Crime Branch Kashmir. The prosecution alleged that the doctor, who holds Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status and a British passport, did not disclose her citizenship status when applying for the post of Assistant Professor in Geriatric Medicine at SKIMS.
The prosecution said her status made her ineligible for public employment under Article 16 of the Constitution and Section 7-B of the Citizenship Act, 1955. It argued that the alleged non-disclosure amounted to cheating and making a false declaration.
However, the Court of the Forest Magistrate, Srinagar, presided over by Mohammad Ishtiyaq Alam Baba, held that the allegations did not establish a prima facie case under the relevant provisions. The court examined SKIMS's legal status, the recruitment conditions and the rules governing OCI cardholders before reaching its conclusion.
The court observed that SKIMS is an autonomous institution and cannot automatically be treated as a government department simply because it receives government funding or is managed by the government. It also noted that the recruitment advertisement had not expressly restricted eligibility to Indian citizens.
In its order, the court also relied on a Central Government notification dated January 5, 2009, which permits OCI cardholders to pursue specified professions in India, including medicine, subject to the relevant laws. It noted that the SKIMS recruitment advertisement had not expressly restricted eligibility to Indian citizens, Kashmir News Service reported.
The court further noted that the prosecution had not shown that SKIMS suffered any loss, injury or other harm, or that such harm was likely to result from the alleged conduct. It also found that the affidavit and undertaking submitted after the appointment did not require the doctor to disclose her nationality.
Holding that the material did not establish the alleged offences under Sections 199 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code, the court discharged the doctor and ordered the release of her bail and surety bonds.
