Nayima Akhter, Rohit Sharma Overstayed ‘Temporary’ 2015 Swap, Allegedly Controlling Finances Without Accountability as CMO Poonch, Health Directorate Remained Silent; Biometric Fraud, Educational Mismatch Scrutinized as Public Demands Probe
JJ Toseef R Ganai
Poonch | June 18, 2025: In what could become one of the most glaring examples of administrative negligence and procedural betrayal within the health governance system of Jammu and Kashmir, two NHM employees, Nayima Akhter and Rohit Sharma have been allowed to retain unofficial control over District Hospital Poonch’s financial management for nearly a decade, despite their postings being sanctioned only as temporary adjustments.
Official records, testimonies from within the hospital system, and insider sources from the NHM directorate paint a troubling picture of favoritism, silence, and manipulation where rules were bent, orders ignored, and contractual obligations bypassed, allowing these two individuals to operate beyond their jurisdiction, unchecked and unsupervised.
A Temporary Swap Gone Wrong, It all began with Letter No. SHS/NHM/J&K/PS/15946-47 dated 06-02-2015, wherein the Mission Director of NHM J&K approved a temporary swapping of duties between Nayima Akhter, the then Block Accounts Manager (BAM) at Surankote, and Rohit Sharma, who was serving as Accounts Manager at Raja Sukhdev Singh Ji District Hospital Poonch.
The order was explicit: the swap was purely temporary, meant to “facilitate smooth functioning,” and was conditioned upon affidavits affirming its non-permanent nature. A follow-up order (No. NHM/CMO/P/2016-17/71-77 dated 27-06-2016) reiterated this with a one-year cap, stating that both employees would return to their original positions by June 2017.
Fast forward to 2025-neither returned. No fresh postings. No extensions. No official clarifications. Instead, both continue to operate from the same positions they were supposed to vacate nearly eight years ago, drawing salaries, executing responsibilities, and reportedly enjoying unchecked control over hospital accounts and processes.
The Shadow Finance Heads of DH Poonch, At the heart of the scandal lies the unofficial entrenchment of Nayima Akhter, who continues to function as the de facto Accounts Manager of DH Poonch, despite being a contractual BAM under NHM.
Sources within the hospital allege she controls, Financial vouchers and salary approvals, Payment releases to suppliers and outsourced services, Budget management without formal delegation And this, despite her being contractual, not gazetted, and not officially posted as DAM. Multiple attempts by junior staff to raise this issue have allegedly been met with either indifference or indirect pressure from “higher quarters.”
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma, the other half of this orchestrated arrangement, is equally mired in suspicion. Though technically reassigned to Surankote, insiders claim he never joined that post meaningfully, and his actual place of posting remains unclear to this day. With no attendance logs, no verifiable work output, and no public accountability, Sharma is believed to be drawing salary without performing any measurable duties.
Financial Irregularities and Biometric Loopholes, Perhaps the most troubling dimension is the lack of biometric attendance records for both individuals.
Under NHM rules, all contractual staff must mark biometric attendance daily. Without this, salary is not to be processed. Yet in both cases, biometric logs are either blank, inactive, or deliberately avoided. How then are their salaries being approved?
This opens up serious questions,Is someone manually signing their attendance? Who verifies their duty sheets? On what authority is salary being released? This is not merely a violation of NHM rules, but potentially a case of salary fraud, which requires immediate administrative and legal scrutiny.
Collapse of Accountability: Why Is CMO Poonch Silent? The Chief Medical Officer of Poonch, the direct administrative authority, is yet to act, despite being fully aware of these anomalies. The original 2015 and 2016 orders were issued under the CMO’s office, and yet no reversion orders, clarifications, or disciplinary actions have followed.
Observers are now openly questioning, Why has the CMO not relieved Nayima Akhter or pursued Rohit Sharma’s compliance?
Why is the Directorate of Health Services Jammu quiet despite receiving all copies of orders? Is this inaction a result of negligence or active facilitation?
Rising Discontent Among NHM Employees, The fallout of this scandal is being felt across the region. Multiple NHM contractual workers have expressed outrage over what they describe as “selective privilege and deep-rooted favoritism.”
“There are dozens of hardworking BAMs who are transferred frequently without reason. But these two have made a fortress out of a temporary post,” said one NHM employee anonymously.
The episode has also led to a trust deficit between NHM field officers and their district leadership, with many now demanding a district-wise audit of all long-standing postings.
This is not merely about two employees. It is a story of how the absence of monitoring, wilful disregard of orders, and misuse of administrative silence allows individuals to manipulate the system and turn temporary opportunities into permanent empires.
That too, at the cost of transparency, equal opportunity, and public trust.
Local activists, whistleblowers, and health rights groups have issued a joint appeal to the Mission Director NHM, the Director Health Services Jammu, and the J&K Health Minister, urging them to Immediately relieve both Nayima Akhter and Rohit Sharma from their overstayed positions, Order a full audit of their salary disbursements, biometric records, and duty logs from 2016 onward, Publicly release their affidavits, original appointment orders, and any extension orders (if any exist), Take disciplinary action against CMO Poonch for failing to enforce orders and prevent manipulation.
Adding to the already concerning narrative is the glaring issue of educational mismatch. The post of Accounts Manager at District Hospital Poonch-responsible for handling crores of public funds, medical procurement, audit compliance, and payroll disbursement-demands a candidate with a commerce background, typically B.Com or M.Com as per NHM norms and financial guidelines. Yet, astonishingly, all block account manager, who continues to hold the post unofficially, possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Applications (BCA). This not only raises serious questions about the eligibility and merit-based criteria being bypassed, but also potentially endangers the fiscal integrity of the hospital’s entire financial operations. When qualification standards are ignored in such sensitive appointments, it opens the door to procedural errors, misappropriation risks, and systemic compromise. Who allowed this deviation? And why has it been allowed to continue unchecked for so many years?
This entire episode is a symptom of deeper decay within Poonch’s health administration. A system built on public trust and bound by regulation cannot afford to be held hostage by selective silence and unchecked favoritism. It’s time the government showed the public that rules still matter, and that temporary power cannot become permanent privilege.
If the health department fails to act even now, the message will be clear In Poonch, governance is optional and influence is law.
