New Delhi, Aug 2 (PTI) Juggling NFHS data, research papers being leaked to foreign entities and lapses in recruitment are among the alleged irregularities that took place during K S James' tenure as IIPS director and these are being probed by the health ministry, official sources said.

The International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) comes under the health ministry and designs the four-yearly National Family Health Survey (NFHS), for which it also collects and collates data.

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James was suspended by the ministry on July 27 till the completion of inquiry.

On July 29, the ministry in a note had said complaints were received regarding irregularities in recruitment and appointments, and compliance with the reservation roster. To investigate these, a fact-finding committee (FFC) was constituted by the Union health ministry on May 6.

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"The FFC found prima facie irregularities in 11 of 35 complaints received. These irregularities were mainly regarding lapses observed in certain appointments, recruitment of faculty, reservation rosters, and dead stock registers among others," the ministry had said.

The charges are serious in nature and the director of the IIPS, being the head of the institute, is directly or indirectly responsible for the failure to exercise adequate supervision, it had said.

The FFC had also recommended an inquiry against the registrars for the corresponding period as well as the director concerned.

On Thursday, an official source told PTI, "The complaints which have been received against James include irregularities in data collection and processing for NFHS which are a matter of major concern and are being looked into by the ministry."

Besides these, there are also allegations of research papers being leaked to foreign entities, irregularities in recruitment and construction of new buildings, and violation of the reservation roster and dead stock registers, which are being probed, the sources said.

"Apparently, it has been alleged that he also attended a China-based webnair. All these are allegations being investigated," the official source said.

The ministry had also said his suspension "was felt necessary to prevent avoidable interference in free, fair and fast investigation to gather sufficient documentary evidence and corroborating facts and circumstantial evidence to frame a firm charge-sheet to institute a fair disciplinary proceeding against the Director, PS and other officers if required".

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)