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| Union denial superficial, ET sticks to its report | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 16:
An unheard of union of employees of information department has sought to deny the news report published under the caption "Grappled with nepotism, information department needs overhauling" in the February 16 issue of The Early Times.
Going by the journalistic ethics, we are in a way morally bound to publish union's point of view, but let it be clear and loud that we stick to whatever we have reported.
Surprisingly, the denial was issued by a union, perhaps formed overnight, and not by any authority.The union is nobody to term the report as wrong. Let it come forward with its claim that Surinder was senior to Pritam Saini, Sham Lal, Romesh Saini and Nissar Ahmad. The union has made no mention of these things in its denial. So, its denial is superficial in nature and lacks clarity.
It seems that it too succumbed under the pressure of the "mighty" and "manipulative" employees, who do not have a proven track record.
The union may express its anguish over the report, but at the same time, it should have come forward with the relevant record, which, however, is altogether different.
No wrong impression was created against Surinder. We now add one more thing to our report. Let the state vigilance organisation (SVO) or any other investigating agency find out the "misdoings" in the advertisement section of the department.
Thirty years' service in a department cannot be the measure of anybody's integrity, sincerity, honesty and commitment to the job.
It is virtually an atmosphere of a vegetable market in the department in the evening when advertisements are virtually "sold" to the representatives of some daily and weekly/fortnightly/monthly newspapers.
Instead of denying the report, there was an emergent need to set the house in order.
A union owes a greater responsibility towards the smooth and flawless functioning of the administration. Let it come forward in support of truth for the betterment of the department.
We had reported that the department was grappled with the problems of nepotism, blatant favouritism and "dis"information since long and needed an overhauling for its smooth and flawless functioning. We stick to whatever we have reported.
It is a hard fact that the department heads had allegedly been giving unfair advantages to their juniors that they like best.
In the news item, it was mentioned that Surinder's seniority came after Pritam Saini, Sham Lal and Romesh.
When contacted, Pritam Saini said he was senior to Surinder and had even challenged the "changed seniority list" in the court of law.
He said he was appointed in 1972, while Surinder joined the department in 1974. He said no union existed in the information department as there were no elections for the past two decades.
The news report also stated that as per SRO 93 of the recruitment rules of information department, a katib could be promoted as exhibition assistant or information assistant, but not a TPO (teleprinter operator).
The union denial did not make any mention of it. Surinder is a TPO. Why doesn't he operate a teleprinter? What job has he in the advertisement section? Is he the only most competent man in the department? Despite being so junior, he has always remained close to information directors in two decades. Why? He was the only man to go to Srinagar to attend the marriage of the daughter of a director. Why only he went there and why not others? These are some of the questions which the union needs to address.
It seems as if the union issued the denial at the instance of the director himself and not because it had any soft corner for Surinder.
Information director Farooq Ahmad Renzu's letter written to Principal Secretary Information Department reads as: "Kindly refer to your office letter No 1D/Estt.05/2008 dated 31-03-2009 regarding the subject cited above, ie regularisation of step-up pay at par to junior. While going through the records, it has been revealed that Shri Pritam Saini is senior to Mr Sham Lal, CCL. Both the senior and junior are enjoying the same seniority, status and cadre.............It is, therefore, requested to confirm the action taken by the department in stepping up of the pay of senior at par to his junior colleague vide order No INF/1-13/98 dated 5-3-1998.
In the news item, the same point was made. Since Sham is senior to Surinder, Pritam Saini automatically becomes senior to Surinder.
When director himself confirmed Pritam's seniority over Surinder, what prompted the union to dash the denial is beyond the understanding of a logical mind. Also, we did not find any logical argument or reasoning in the denial.
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