AIIMS Gorakhpur Controversy: Head of surgery accuses executive director of forging son’s OBC certificate

NEW DELHI: A controversy has erupted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Gorakhpur following allegations of fraud against Dr Gopal Krushna Pal, the institute's executive director. Dr Gaurav Gupta, the head of surgery department at AIIMS Gorakhpur, has filed a complaint with the local police, accusing Pal of using fraudulent documents to gain an unfair advantage.

In his complaint lodged with the Station House Officer (SHO) at the AIIMS Gorakhpur police station on September 5, Gupta alleged that Pal submitted a fake Other Backward Classes-Non Creamy Layer (OBC-NCL) certificate for his son, Aurorakash Pal, to secure admission in the MD Postgraduate (PG) medical course in the Microbiology Department of AIIMS Gorakhpur in August 2024.

“I have filed an online complaint with the state government and local police station. A probe will be carried out on the basis of my complaint which has also reached the union health ministry,” Gupta told Careers360.

Pal, director of AIIMS Patna with additional charge AIIMS Gorakhpur, has denied the allegations. “These are false allegations to tarnish my reputation. I stopped rampant corruption at AIIMS Gorakhpur after taking actions against corrupt officials and they all have turned against me. I have already submitted my statement to the union health ministry in this regard,” he said.

Pal, who has been acting as executive director at AIIMS Gorakhpur since January 3, 2024, further alleged that denial of promotion to Gupta and his wife Dr Sangeeta Gupta, additional professor in physiology department at AIIMS Gorakhpur, on the basis of merit, led to the complaint.

AIIMS Gorakhpur: Fake OBC certificate row

According to Gupta’s complaint, an allegedly forged OBC-NCL certificate used for Auroprakash’s admission at AIIMS Gorakhpur falsely claims the family’s annual income to be below Rs 8 lakh, the eligibility threshold for OBC-NCL status.

“Auroprakash’s father Dr Gopal Krushna Pal is AIIMS Patna director with additional charge of executive director at AIIMS Gorakhpur who receives an annual income of Rs 40-50 lakh. Auroprakash’s mother Dr Parvati Pal is a professor at Jawahar Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, who also receives an annual salary of around Rs 40 lakh. Still, Auroprakash took admission at AIIMS Gorakhpur under OBC-NCL category, but left his seat in microbiology department vacant as he cancelled his admission after [the] matter came to light. This has resulted in wastage of a seat and loss of career for an eligible student,” Gupta said in his complaint.

He has demanded action against Pal while alleging violation of rules by Pal in recruitment at AIIMS Gorakhpur in the past too.

AIIMS Gorakhpur admission

In an email to the union health ministry, Pal has submitted a “factual report” regarding the issue of admission of his son at AIIMS Gorakhpur. Auroprakash had appeared in Institutes of National Importance-Common Entrance Test (INI-CET), July 2024 session, for which the exam was conducted on May 19, 2024.

“OBC-NCL certificate for my son was issued by the competent authority following all the due procedures. In the open counselling of INI-CET held at AIIMS Gorakhpur on August 30, 2024, my son got selected for admission in the first year MD in microbiology in OBC category. During this counselling, I was not there at AIIMS Gorakhpur. However, after seeing the infrastructure in the department, he could not like the department and also could not like the subject. Therefore, he resigned on September 3, 2024, and was relieved from the institute (sic),” says the email communication accessed by Careers360.

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News reports claiming that Dr Auroprakash Pal resigned from the PG seat because it was brought to the notice by some people on social media that his OBC certificate is fake, are incorrect, he said.

“The allegation of my son leaving the PG course as reported in the news items that the admission was with a forged certificate, is totally wrong. In fact, four students (two from general category and two students from OBC category had joined the MD course in Microbiology at AIIMS Gorakhpur on August 30, 2024. Another candidate belonging to general category has also resigned after one day and left the institute, realising that the department of microbiology is not good at AIIMS Gorakhpur. My son also did not like the subject and the department and, therefore, he resigned from the institute on September 3, 2024,” he wrote in his email.

“The OBC certificate has been issued by the Office of Additional DM, Patna, which is a fully authentic certificate that can be verified by any investigating agency,, if anybody has any doubt. The certificate is not a forged one, as alleged.”

Questions were raised on how a candidate with both parents as Group-A officers of the central government can be in the non-creamy layer of OBC.

Pal said: “The notification of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and subsequent direction of Supreme Court are that the income from salary and from land property will not be considered for non-creamy layer of the OBC. Also, there is a notification from the Government of Bihar (citing notification of the Government of India as reference) that income from salary and from the land property will not be included for the Non-Creamy Layer of OBC. Moreover, the authority (the Additional DM, Patna) has verified all the required documents before issuing the OBC-NCL Certificate.”

Gorakhpur AIIMS row: ‘Personal vendetta’

Pal alleged that Gupta, HOD of general surgery, had applied for the post of professor in the trauma and emergency medicine department, and his wife Sangeeta Gupta, additional professor in physiology department, had applied for the post of professor in the same department. Neither got the job.

“They thought that they were denied selections without any reason. But their performances in the interviews conducted by the institute’s standing selection committee, comprising subject experts, were very bad. I am the member secretary in the institute's standing selection committee and they went against me in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Allahabad in April 2024. The case was dismissed in the admission stage because it did not hold merit. They appealed the CAT decision at Allahabad High Court and that too got dismissed. Now, Dr Gupta has filed a complaint against me at the local police station. They have given false information to the press,” Pal told Careers360.

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In his communication to the ministry, Pal said that he had enforced discipline to improve AIIMS Gorakhpur’s situation and to stop irregularities.

“Therefore, some faculty and non-faculty staff of the institute have been working overtime to defame me and to ensure that I leave the institute at the earliest possible. I strongly believe that this is the handiwork of those with vested interest who have given all this false information to the press,” he added.

AIIMS Gorakhpur recruitment

AIIMS Gorakhpur was established in 2019 with the aim to provide quality tertiary care to people of eastern Uttar Pradesh. The AIIMS Gorakhpur MBBS seat intake is 125. It also offers PG medical courses in several disciplines.

There are 183 sanctioned posts of faculties at AIIMS Gorakhpur. “Even after several rounds of recruitment, there are 63 vacant posts of faculties in the institution. We will continue our recruitment process,” Pal said.