M A I L B A G

CM-Governor spat in Haryana

Apropos of your editorial “CM-Governor spat” (May 3), the open confrontation between both the heads of the state is unfortunate. It is common talk in Haryana that Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala is not getting on well with Governor Babu Parmanand. Some time ago, when certain Dalit leaders directly met the Governor, who is also the Chancellor of Rohtak’s Maharishi Dayanand University, Vice-Chancellor B.S. Suhag had ordered that anybody directly meeting the dignitaries visiting the university without his prior permission will be liable for action.

Their relations got further strained with the appointment of Mr D.S.Hooda as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Kurushetra University and the Governor’s decision to send the Casino Bill to the President. Now with the curtailing of Governor’s powers to hear memorials of aggrieved state government employees, their relations are further strained.

Mr Parmanand is not the first victim of politicians’ gimmicks in Haryana. Perhaps our netas here are encouraged by some IAS and IPS officers. One top cop had compared The Chief Minister’s sons with the sun and the moon. If politicians think that the Governor will fall in line just like some IAS and IPS officers, they are sadly mistaken.

The present controversy reminds one of the days duing the chief ministership of Mr Bansi Lal who had very cordial relations with the then Governor B.N.Chakravarti. Congratulations for the bold and timely editorial.

SHASHI BANSAL, Rohtak

Misleading report

The report “PMT favours the affluent” (April 27) is misleading. The report is not based on facts. The CBSE has been conducting this examination with meticulous care and in a fair manner. The various hypotheses your correspondent has proposed in his report would probably help him in penning a good fiction than a justifiable news item. The various alternatives, he has suggested, seem to indicate a total negative psyche to mesmerise the weak minds and thrive on the constructed fears to achieve a marketing strategy. One would hardly expect a paper of your stature to succumb to a poor strategy of this kind.

The fact that the examinations have been conducted smoothly and fairly by the CBSE across the country with the assistance of a dedicated team of officials, educationists and educational administrators and that no unfair practice has been reported from any part of the country is yet another testimony to disprove your alleged fears on the whole issue. The fact that there has been no leakage of the question papers since the inception of the whole scheme till date vindicates the stand taken by the CBSE with regard to the credibility of the process. The picture you had drawn about the so-called “perhaps the country’s biggest entrance examination scam” has become a myth.

The various exercises carried out by the CBSE for processing of the examination results have several in-built checks and there is no question of any intervention in the system by any external forces. If some anti-social elements try to take advantage of frivolous and greedy minds to seek an undeserving entry into a system and are exploited, such anti-social elements have to be handled according to the law and that does not cause any aspersion on the strength and the credibility of the system. The role of responsible media should be to caution the general public against dangerous elements and dissuade them from being victims of such elements.

This examination is conducted by the CBSE under the directions of the Supreme Court and hence it is fully aware of its responsibilities to the court and the clientele. The CBSE had discharged this responsibility without any blemish since 1988 and would continue to uphold the same in future. It enjoys the highest esteem of the people because of its commitment to fair practices and norms of quality.

RAMA SHARMA, PRO, Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi