Question mark over ATP’s qualification.

The Tribune: Kuldip Bhatia : Ludhiana: Monday, June 6, 2016. 

It is a curious case of a public servant making desperate attempts to keep his qualification under the wraps, particularly when his appointment to the cadre of building inspector in the Municipal Corporation was approved with retrospective effect on the basis of that particular diploma and he was given service benefits of seven years.

In a complaint lodged with the Vigilance wing of the Local Government Department, copies of which have also been sent to the Chief Minister, Punjab, the Local Government Minister and the Director General of Police, a city resident, Ramesh Chander Nayyar, has said all his persistent efforts to obtain details of educational and technical qualification of SS Bindra, an Assistant Town Planner, serving with the MCs of Jalandhar and Ludhiana, had failed and in the process, various provisions of Right to Information Act were violated.

Expressing surprise at the failure of the Local Government Department to provide the details of the educational and technical qualifications under the RTI Act on the plea that the affected party (SS Bindra in this case) had not agreed for this, the complainant said qualifications of a public servant are no secret or confidential information. On the contrary, such information should be readily available on the public domain.

He said in his complaint that Bindra was appointed a building inspector in 1999 and subsequently in March 2006, he was designated as building inspector (technical) with retrospective effect. “Again in July 2006, he was promoted as Municipal Corporation Planning Officer and designated as assistant town planner,” the complaint said.

In his complaint, Nayyar maintained that the said official had misrepresented the facts at the time of his representation made to the government in March 2006 for his appointment as building inspector (technical) with retrospective effect (from the year 1999).

“Against the service rules which laid down that for appointment as building inspector (technical), a candidate should have a diploma in architecture or three years diploma in civil engineering with seven years experience as building inspector, Bindra had obtained a six-month or one-year diploma from a private institute in Chennai, that too while in service which also seem doubtful,” the complaint said.

According to Nayyar, the reluctance on the part of the official to make details of his qualification public, which was rather mandatory, went on to show that he had something to hide.

He has sought a high-level probe into the matter to put the record straight and take action as per the rules if the official was found guilty of suppressing or misrepresenting the facts.