M A I L B A G

Ravi Sidhu case: a major question

This refers to the news item “But for an uncle, all desert Ravi Sidhu”. It’s quite easy to say after seeing all that has happened with Ravi Sidhu but it seems simply ridiculous when you whisper the same thing to a young brilliant candidate who has wasted his most valuable time in the preparation to qualify for an elite post under the Public Service Commission and what about the parents of that candidate who have spent each and every hard-earned penny for their child to get the best of coaching and all other facilities that he or she should study without any stress and his morale should remain high despite his joblessness and strenuous study so that they can see him on an esteemed post. And yes he qualifies for the exam, he is in the top merit, fully satisfied with his performance and is well-equipped for the interview but after the final results he is not even in the waiting list just because Sidhu’s lockers have no space for talent.

Now ask this candidate how is his/her morale? “What kind of medical aid do you want?” “Have you also lost your weight?” Further, there is no answer to these questions for those who have become overage for appearing in Public Service Commission exams.

Leaving all this agony aside, the big question is can we still expect justice? We all know the answer as we have similar examples from the recent past like other cases involving big guns who keep on going for years and due to lack of prima facie evidence the culprits are acquitted. The case may be of Naina Sahni, of Sukh Ram, urea scam, Ruchika molestation, Jessica Lal murder, all have the similar results.

I’ve written all this, not because I’m hopeful that this letter will play any role but because I’m also one of those candidates who painfully know how deserted you feel and where your morale stands when sand is out of your hands. Your condition is more grave at home than Sidhu’s condition in “B” class jail.

VISHAL GALHOTRA, Bathinda

JAGJIT, Vancouver

Law-violators We in India have a unique democracy. When persons found of flagrant violations of law, rape murder, illegal deals and stacks of money are caught, they inevitably get away after a few days in jail. When they are tried in courts after several months and in some cases years, they modify the evidence, buy witnesses and buy out or threaten the judicial system and seldom if ever get punished. Not a single person was ever sentenced in the hawala scam, fertiliser scam, Bofors scam, fodder scam, electricity scam, just to name a few. Such persons should be put on fast-track trials in special courts and by special judges so that they do not have time to modify the evidence and temper with law to suit their cases. Dr B.S. AHLOOWALIA, Vienna

Environment exam

I would like to highlight the problem faced by the students who went to appear in the Environment paper exam which is mandatory to clear once in three years to get the graduation degree. The students who went to appear in the exam in RSD College, Dev Samaj College, DAV College for Women and Guru Nanak College, Ferozepore, were not allowed to appear in the exam saying that the university had not sent their roll numbers to the centres. About 150 students of B.Sc. final virtually sat on dharna but the official did not listen to them. Is it the fault of the students if the roll numbers have not reached the respective centres. I request the authorities to give these students a special chance to clear this paper as they were not at fault.

H. P. S. SANDHU & other parents,  Ferozepore

VC’s appointment

Mr Chaudhary has given a true but grim picture of the state of our universities, particularly in Haryana. The appointing authority of a VC is the Chancellor (Governor). But in our universities the selection of a VC is the sole prerogative of the Chief Minister and the Chancellor remains a silent spectator. The UGC or an independent agency should sponsor a dispassionate study of the kind of VCs we have had in our university system since its inception.

ANIL BHATIA, Hisar

Political interference

The news “Review decision on Sekhon: Badal” further proves the charge against Air Marshal Sekhon, which is sought to be erased. A meeting of MPs, a former Chief Minister of Punjab and the Vice-Chairman of the Minorities Commission with the Defence Minister for a review of a service matter amounts to clear violation of the oath taken by these worthies to perform their duties without fear or favour. First, it is none of their duty and secondly, if they think so, they have violated the sacred oath, besides embarrassing the Air Marshal. In case there is anything wrong, it is for the person concerned to move for a review and not for politicians to represent his case, and give it a communal tinge.

S. D. BALI, Hoshiarpur

Resume Kalka Mail

Last year Northern Railways withdrew Kalka Mail. It had stopovers at stations like Chandigarh, Ambala, Rajpura, Mandi Gobindgarh, Khanna, Sahnewal, Ludhiana, Nawanshahr, Jalandhar, Beas etc. Now passengers from the Kalka-Chandigarh areas are put to inconvenience as they have to go to Ambala to take trains for these important stations.

Will the authorities resume this train?

RAJ KUMAR, Chandigarh

PPSC selected lecturers

The Punjab Public Service Commission selections for various posts have become controversial and 639 selections have been cancelled. These include 149 posts of lecturer.

So far as the selection of lecturers is concerned, I don’t think money has played any role. Most of the selected lecturers belong to middle class families and they can’t pay bribes in lakhs. Besides, the posts of lecturer are not lucrative enough.

Moreover, till date there has not been a single disclosure of bribe payment in the selection of lecturers. So there is no justification for cancelling the selection of lecturers.

I am one of the selected lecturers in the subject of political science. I topped in Panjab University in M.A. and passed my M.Phil examination with distinction and have cleared the NET. There are others selected on merit: Randeep Dhoot, who stood second in Panjab University in M.A political science, Ashima Wadhera holds third position in GND University in M.A. political science. How can one say that they are not deserving candidates.

The Chief Minister’s move to root out corruption is a welcome step. But without any solid proof of bribery and merely on the basis of doubt, the selection of lecturers should not be cancelled. It will set a bad precedent.

ANTAR JYOTI GHAI, Ludhiana

A nexus at work?

Apropos of news items about the PPSC case, the common man is not shocked or anguished as it is quite an expected happening these days. A matter of higher concern is the manner in which the law enforcing and administrative machinery has acted so fast all of a sudden as if the whole affair was already known. They have become hyperactive and efficient immediately on change of their political masters. Aren’t they supposed to be performing their bona fide duty other than when they are given a push or a go-ahead? Aren’t they supposed to be self-starters?

Not surprising that one of them has even been promoted as a reward for his “swift” action just within a few days of the “operation”. Doesn’t it sound a bell and leave a stink about a system hopelessly crippled by a politician-bureaucrat-policeman nexus. The cancer is so wide spread that to find a normal (read honest) government functionary is a rarity. Isn’t the man in the street being squeezed and pushed by the guardians of law and governance to a point where he will have anarchy as the only option for survival? May God bless the powers and authorities that be with a better sense so that things do not reach a breaking point.

LT. COL BHAGWAN SINGH  (retd), Mohali