Chandigarh Tribune: Chandigarh: Monday,
July 11, 2016.
Punjab’s
State Transport Commissioner Harmel Singh Sra’s letter to the Transport Secretary
for regularisation of services of an Additional District Transport Officer
(ADTO) — his son Simran Sra on completion of the two-year probation period has
led to questions being raised about the appointment itself.
Sra is
considered to be well connected with the ruling Badal family, which has
sizeable business interests in the transport sector. At the time of his son’s
appointment in September 2013, he was the Additional State Transport
Commissioner, before being elevated a year later, taking over from Harjit
Singh.
The case
cropped up in January this year, when the office of the STC wrote to the office
of the Transport Secretary, seeking regularisation of Simran’s services. Seeing
the “anomalies” in the ADTO’s file, Secretary R. Venkatratnam sought
clarifications; several reminders were also sent to the Commissioner’s office,
but no answer was forthcoming.
In May,
Venkatratnam was divested of the post for “daring to raise the issue”, though officials
flatly refute it.
A
superintendent and a senior assistant in the Secretary’s office were asked to
explain how Simran’s appointment orders were issued in 2013 without
“cross-checking” the rules. The two, in their explanation, claimed that since
the appointment was cleared by the then Secretary and Transport Minister Ajit
Singh Kohar, they could do little. There were verbal instructions to clear the
file, both admitted on record.
Kohar, when
contacted, said he could not recollect the case but would look into it, while
Sra claimed there was nothing amiss, the “Principal Secretary was satisfied
with the appointment and a reply would be sent soon”.
Such was the
attraction to get absorbed in the Transport Department that Simran Sra came on
a lower scale from the Public Works Department (B&R), where he had been
appointed as a junior engineer.
Though the
rules specify that only a regular employee can be taken on a transfer basis, he
was shifted as ADTO despite being on probation.
Sources said
Simran had joined as a JE in PWD just five months before he was selected as
ADTO.
Documents
assessed by The Tribune under the RTI Act reveal that right from bypassing the
competent authority for getting the eligibility criteria altered to inviting
applications, the entire process was “orchestrated” to ensure that the intended
beneficiary remained the only eligible candidate to fill the post of ADTO.
Of the three
candidates, the application of Mandeep, a Kanungo in the Revenue Department,
was outrightly rejected for being ineligible and that of Nipun Syal, a BTech
and working in the Water Supply and Sanitation Department, was rejected for not
applying through the proper channel and not attaching his degree
certificate.
Though the
office of Principal Secretary, being the administrative head of the department,
was competent to move the case before the government and seek instructions, it
was put up by the office of the STC and routed through the Minister on a single
file.
To apparently
suit Simran’s qualifications, the eligibility criteria was changed — from
graduation to graduation with 55 per cent marks and giving preference to BTech
— at the level of the State Transport Commissioner, whereas the competent
authority to effect changes is the government. It was stated that “BTech
students are more intelligent and hard working”. Simran has a BE in Civil
Engineering.
The
government instructions regarding filling posts on a transfer basis after
exhausting the channel of direct recruitment was not followed before putting up
the file for approval before the Transport Minister.
While putting
up the file, it was stated that there was no clarification to fill the posts
through direct recruitment.
Even after
getting orders from the Transport Minister in January 2013 to circulate the
notice for inviting applications from different government departments, it was
allegedly not circulated. Instead, an advertisement inviting applications for
the post was given in two vernacular dailies.
Then, after a
gap of over seven months, the move to fill the post of ADTO was revived at the
level of the STC (Sra was Additional STC then) without getting it approved from
higher authorities.
10
objections raised by Transport Secretary
1.
Is there any provision to fill ADTO post through
inter-department transfer?
2.
Clarify whether any effort was made to fill the post
through direct recruitment?
3.
While the government eligibility for direct recruitment
is graduate, was approval taken to change the criteria?
4.
Was written test taken as per the rules?
5.
Provide copies of notices issued to different departments
for seeking applications to fill posts on transfer basis
6.
Was Simran Sra a regular employee in PWD, had his
probation period ended in that government department?
7.
Can employee on higher scale be transferred to a lower-scale
post?
8.
Was BTech certificate of Simran Sra included in the file?
Attached in file is candidate’s BE in Civil Engineering certificate
9. Was other candidate Nipun Syal given the opportunity to
present his BTech certificate?
10. Was approval taken
to extend the date to accept application to August 2013?
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