Missing ACRs complicate principal’s promotion case

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 12

While the Higher Education Department has finally decided to call a departmental promotion committee meeting for college principals, it is reportedly planning to supply incorrect information to the UPSC. The registrar of the department is set to visit the UPSC tomorrow to allegedly favour a candidate by supplying information that may not be correct.

Among others, the name of BP Yadav, officiating principal of PGGC-46 is in the list. However, to accommodate and favour Yadav, his service record has allegedly been altered to match the requirements of the UPSC. Director Higher Education Rakesh Popli says, “We are just sending the names of the candidates. The UPSC will take a decision on their eligibility and other factors”.

Case of missing file

BP Yadav had left his job as an adhoc lecturer in a city government college in 1995 and joined Maharishi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, as an estate officer which is a non-teaching job. Yadav when contacted said, “I never resigned from my job with the Chandigarh Administration. People are making false allegations against me.” However, the official documents with Chandigarh Tribune say otherwise.

Yadav rejoined the teaching job in 1997 and did his PhD in 2007. As per information of the Higher Education Department, the annual confidential report (ACR) of Yadav is missing from the records and it cannot be ascertained that there is a gap in his service in the said period.

For failure to explain the nature of his service in this period, the UPSC had rejected his name in the DPC held in 2010. Now, the department has sought a non-availability certificate (NAC) from his then college. The NAC can only be given by the principal who has not been given and has confirmed the same. However, officials of the Education Department say that they have the said report.

The Chandigarh Tribune has accessed official documents and documents obtained via RTI prove that Yadav worked at a non-teaching post at MDU, Rohtak, from November 1995 to June 1997. According to rules, the seniority will have to be considered from 1997 but due to the missing ACRs, the department is trying to consider it from his first joining in 1983.

Questions galore

There is a vigilance inquiry marked in the case of the missing file against the current registrar Ram Lal Thakur who was the dealing assistant in 1997. He never reported the missing file or took corrective measures according to the vigilance. Multiple representations by college professors to the department have claimed that Thakur has gone out of the way to help Yadav over the years. When contacted, Thakur refused to comment, saying that he was not authorised to do so.

At the time of making BP Yadav the officiating principal, the DHE office had recommended that he be made principal of PGGC-11 and JK Sehgal be transferred to PGGC-46. According to the rules, a senior person is to be made the principal of PGGC- 11, which should be Sehgal. The advisor, however, had written that it may be considered in accordance with rules and seniority. Hence, the department had to make Yadav the officiating principal of PGGC-46 against their will.