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Patil: Look into St John’s case
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 9
Taking cognisance of the allegations levelled by St John’s School, Sector 26, against UT Home-cum-Education Secretary Ram Niwas for his undue interference in school matters, UT administrator Shivraj Patil has asked the adviser to investigate the matter.

In a representation submitted to Patil, the school authorities had alleged that despite the school being a minority institution free to establish and administer their schools were facing an undue interference and harassment from the Home Secretary.

Amongst various instances, the representation elaborated upon the recent incident involving its arts teacher Michaelangelo Francis, where based on a written complaint from parents, the UT administration declared the teacher guilty not withstanding the internal inquiry marked by the school. “The school brought several instances to the administrator’s notice where the Home Secretary refused to respect school’s freedom and interfered in its functioning.

The Principal had accused him of constant harassment on one pretext or another. The complaint also brought the District Education Officer Chanchal Singh’s role under scanner.

Seeing the seriousness of the matter, Patil has marked the representation to the adviser and asked him to investigate further,” a senior official of the administration said.

The ‘investigation’ seems to have increased the troubles for Ram Niwas who today was warned by the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) against harassing the Principal, filing which the commission has threatened to report the matter to the Home Minister.

How it all began

The ongoing tussle between St John’s School and the UT Home Secretary started when TK Goyal, a PCS officer, submitted a written complaint to the school management and the UT administration against an art teacher for promoting pornography. The school marked an immediate inquiry headed by Justice SS Sodhi but complainant refused to be a part of it. He ‘cooperated’ with the UT administration that not only declared the teacher guilty but also the Principal for instigating students in cyber crime by organising hacking competitions in school.

Meanwhile, the school enquiry committee differed on its stand. Inquiry officer Justice SS Sodhi opined that the most striking feature of the entire episode was that the complainant who did not attend the enquiry on the pretext of not having faith in it failed to produce any relevant proof to support his allegations.

Goyal, interestingly, did not put up the allegations made in a complaint during the cross examination of the respondents and his witnesses. Taking all factors in account, Justice Sodhi dismissed the complaint as actuated by some ulterior motive, which wholly unbecoming for an officer belonging to the Punjab Civil Services.