Suspend erring principal, union asks UT Edu Dept

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 16

Demanding suspension of the officiating Principal of GMSSS, Sector 23, who was transferred to Government Senior Secondary School, Khuda Ali Sher, in November after the District Education Officer (DEO) submitted an inquiry report against him, the Group-D Employees’ Union and the UT Cadre Education Employees’ Union have given the Education Department a deadline until Wednesday.

Accusing the department of bias, the presidents of both unions claimed that it had not adhered to Punjab Services rules. Swarn Singh Kamboj, president of the UT Cadre Education Employees’ Union, said, “GMSSS-23 Principal Chitranjan Singh had been taking the school staff to run errands at his farm in Dadu Majra, Kharar, during school hours. He was caught red-handed by DEO Anujit Kaur, who had come to inspect the school, following a tip-off on Chitranjan’s and workers’ absence from the school.”

Ranjit Mishra from the Group-D Employees’ Union under the Education Department said despite being transferred to Khuda Ali Sher, Chitranjan conducted CTET (Central Teacher Eligibility Test) on the school premises on December 9.

The union has threatened to go on a hunger strike if the department does not suspend Singh until Wednesday.

“On November 11, 12 and 13, Chitranjan took several Class-IV employees of the school -- sweeper Raju, gardeners Rambodh, Vishram, Rampal and Harich, peon Dharmraj and groundman Sureshpal -- to his farm,” said Shishpal Dongra (30), a sweeper at GMSSS-23.

He said, “Along with us, there were other Class-IV employees working at his farm, including Karan, a sweeper at GMSSS-15, Rajesh, a gardener at GMSSS- 22, and Jagdamba, a ‘chowkidar’ at the government-run nursery school right next to GMSSS-23.”

On November 13, when the DEO found five workers absent from the school, even though they were marked present in the attendance register, Shishpal said Chitranjan drove them back to the school immediately and threatened to suspend them if they spoke a word of truth to the top official. “He asked us to jump into the school through the rear wall of the building. We gave our statement to the DEO in writing and the next day he threatened to suspend us if we didn’t sign a blank paper that read that we were sent off to buy saplings instead of being taken to the farm,” he said.

Later, the contractual Class-IV employees signed the paper, but recorded the threat issued to them. “Not only has Chitranjan been frequenting the school, he has also been threatening to get us all suspended; it happened last Sunday too,” Shishpal rued.

Soon after, the presidents of both unions brought the issue to UT Adviser Parimal Rai and Education Secretary BL Sharma, Swarn said. “After two days, we learnt that DSE Rubinderjit Singh Brar and BL Sharma had suggested Chitranjan’s name to the Departmental Promotional Committee (DPC) for promotion. We again told the Adviser that if a complaint/inquiry is going on against a person, she/he cannot be promoted as per the rules of Punjab Services, but we were directed back to BL Sharma,” Swarn said.