EDUCATION

Shortage of invigilators mars MDU exams
Jatinder Sharma

Rohtak, April 9
Shortage of invigilators and inadequate seating capacity at various examination centres have marred the annual examinations of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) that commenced on April 4.

The candidates enrolled through the Department of Distance Education (DDE) for the undergraduate examinations were segregated from the regular students so as to “bring the number of candidates within manageable limits.”

Apart from the segregation of candidates for the DDE examination, the seating capacity at many centres, including Loharu and Bahadurgarh, is inadequate. The lack of space at various examination centres has led to candidates sitting close enough to encourage mass copying. Loharu, incidentally, is the hometown of state Education Minister Bahadur Singh.

The university is reportedly facing shortage of invigilators at some centres. Apart from other reasons, factionalism among teachers at Government College, Kosli, has led to the shortage of invigilators for the examination duties.

It is alleged that at the Dujana centre, the superintendent and the deputy superintendent are not getting co-operation from the head of the local college.

However, the Registrar, Dr S. P. S. Dahiya, claimed that in comparison to the previous years, the examinations this year were being conducted in a fair manner.

Last year, the university had to cancel the examinations in at least eight centres on charges of student indiscipline, mass copying and outside disturbances. But this year, not a single such case had come to the notice of the university, he said.

The university had recorded over 7,000 cases of use of unfair means in the examinations last year. Nearly 2,000 such cases have already been recorded this year and there is the growing fear that the figure is likely to go up by the time the examinations of the compulsory subjects are over.

Dr Dahiya said that a special flying squad headed by Dr Neelima Dahiya, Director Student Welfare (DSW), had been stationed at Khanpur Kalan, where girl students of BPSM Girls College had on Saturday damaged the vehicles of the university flying squad and the centre superintendent. The Registrar said that the situation at Khanpur Kalan was brought under control after the Vice-Chancellor of the university visited the college and warned the members of the managing committee against interfering in the examinations.

Although the Deputy Commissioners in the districts falling within the jurisdiction of MDU have imposed prohibitory orders, banning the assembly of five or more persons near the examination centres, the orders are yet to be implemented effectively by the police. Large crowds were seen outside the examination centres. 

School staff threaten fast-unto-death
Our Correspondent

Rohtak, April 9
The agitating non-teaching staff members of the local Shiksha Bharti School have threatened that they would resort to a ‘fast-unto-death’ if the school management continued its “anti-employee” policies.

The dharna being staged by the non-teaching employees of the school entered its ninth day today. Mr Rajbir Singh, vice-president of the Shiksha Bharti School Employees Welfare Association affiliated to the Sarv Karamchari Sangh, Haryana, presided over the agitation today. He said the school management had failed so far to negotiate with the protestors and this had infuriated the employees.

Addressing the protestors, the employee leader said the members of the association would apprise the masses, especially the parents of students studying in the school, of the ‘malfunctioning’ of the school management. He alleged the school management was moving towards retrenchment of employees by providing different jobs on contract basis.

He warned that the agitation could be intensified after a meeting of the association with the leaders of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh, Haryana.

COURTS

Doctor fined for negligence in surgery
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 9
A doctor has been fined for negligence by a consumer court in the Capital after the patient moved it complaining that the said doctor, despite operating his knee, did not provide any relief to his discomfort.

“There is still a permanent physical impairment due to the mishandling of the operation and this goes to show that Dr M. S. Ahuja of Fracture and Bone Clinic, Rajouri Garden, was negligent in operating the complainant,” said Mr V. K. Sharma, the president of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Janakpuri.

The four-page order issued by the forum recently said that “we direct Dr Ahuja to pay Rs 15,000 as compensation and Rs 1,000 as the cost” of litigation to the complainant.

The complainant, Mr Harish Chander Banga, moved the consumer forum as the pain in his left knee did not subside despite the operation. Mr Banga fell down from a bus and was admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RMLH), where he was treated for the dislocation of the left knee and fracture in the left thigh in January 1998. He was operated on the January 10 that year and was advised physiotherapy exercises for facilitating normal knee movement.

As attending the hospital’s physiotherapy department was extremely costly, Mr Banga approached Dr Ahuja for the same. Dr Ahuja advised Mr Banga to undergo an operation.

The complainant alleged that Dr Ahuja was negligent in the operation as he entrusted the job to another doctor. Later, even as the doctor prescribed varieties of medicines, there was no relief from the pain.

Mr Banga alleged that the X-ray showed that the fracture in the left thigh had been dislocated and the doctor appeared confused and wrongly sent the complainant for re-plastering.

The complainant said that when he was dissatisfied with the line of treatment of Dr Ahuja, he sought a second opinion. The doctor giving the second opinion criticised the line of treatment prescribed by Dr Ahuja. Fortunately, the new line of treatment suited Mr Banga, who is now feeling fine.

However, Dr Ahuja contended before the forum that before performing the operation, it was clearly explained that the treatment for removing the stiffness of the knee might not be 100 per cent successful and the complainant had given his undertaking to that effect. As such, the complainant could not take the plea that he did not get 100 per cent relief after the operation, the doctor contended.

However, the forum observed that such undertakings, which are normally taken at the time of operations, could not wash away the negligence that might have occurred during the operation.

The forum president said the case was referred for expert opinion to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) whose report was not very clear. The report states that the complainant has not explained the nature of surgery performed on him at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RMLH). Hence, the forum said, the conclusion of the report was only based on conjectures and surmises and were not very specific. Hence, the forum found Dr Ahuja negligent in operating the complainant and imposed a fine.