Against rules, visually impaired given active duty in jail

Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 24

In violation of the norms, a blind person has been appointed as the Jail Deputy Superintendent of Ferozepur Jail. Moreover, under political pressure, he has been assigned active duty as he is the ‘in charge’ of the factory in the jail. Sources within the Jail Department say the duty assigned to him is active duty.

Amarjit Singh (51), was promoted to Deputy Superintendent, Jails, by the state Jail Department on March 31. Interestingly, Amarjit neither passed the departmental examination nor did he reportedly appear before the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) for elevation to the post of Deputy Superintendent.

However, Amarjit Singh was allowed to join office on April 7 on the condition that his elevation would be subject to the presentation of documents relating to visibility loss of more than 50 per cent (the copies of the documents are in possession of The Tribune).

Moreover, the medical examination of the official by a medical board on April 8 — a day after Amarjit’s conditional elevation — found that he was “permanently visually handicapped and his disability was 100 per cent”. A copy of the disability certificate issued to Amarjit Singh by the medical board is with The Tribune.

Later, the official was assigned active and sensitive duty at the factory of the Central Jail, Ferozepur, in violation of the jail norms. The rules stipulate that no person with 100 per cent visually impairment could be posted on active duty.

State Jails Minister Sohan Singh Thandal justified the posting of Amarjit Singh. He said, “He is already in service so we can depute him on such a post. The reference of his case to the Welfare Department is not necessary as his elevation is not carried out by the DPC. Moreover, he is not on active duty.” Additional Director General of Police (jails) Rajpal Meena refused to comment on the issue.