Vishal Rambani

rambani@hindustantimes.com

Patiala : Principal secretary, technical education, Anurag Verma, has taken a serious note of some procedural lapses allegedly on part of Punjab technical education special secretary-cum-director Parveen Kumar Thind in giving undue benefits to a private university.

Verma has said that Thind didn’t even consult him while issuing a notification granting NOC to Chandigarh Polytechnic College for change of affiliation from Punjab State Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training to Mohali-based Chandigarh University. Thind is also in the dock for removing the objections raised against the NOC by his predecessor from the file. Verma has not only withdrawn the notification, but also passed written orders to lodge an FIR if the noting of Thind’s predecessor DK Tiwari was not attached to the file.

The case has huge financial ramifications, as such an NOC can pave way for privatisation of technical education and de-regularisation of fee, which otherwise is under the control of Technical Education Board. Chandigarh Polytechnic College is managed by the same trust that looks after Chandigarh University as well.

Punjab government had rejected a similar request of Thapar University in 2016.

Verma has said that Thind issued the notification “without his nod and removed official dissenting note of previous secretary DK Tiwari from the file”.

Technical education minister Charnajit Singh Channi was in agreement for issuing the NOC, but Tiwari in January 2019 wrote a six-page dissenting note, saying “it’s against the interests of state and students”. Tiwari’s note led to closure of the file. However, after the transfer of Tiwari in August, the file was moved again. Verma joined the department on August 9 and on August 16, without even taking his (Verma’s) signatures on the file, Thind allegedly added a noting that “the matter was discussed with principal secretary (Verma). In view of technical education minister’s approval, kindly issue the NOC”.

The NOC was issued the same day under the signatures of Verma. When the matter was brought to Verma’s notice, he called the file and enquired from Tiwari, who sent a copy of the missing dissenting note. In the withdrawal letter, Verma has said: “NOC has been issued under the stamp of undersigned, without even showing file to me. The noting dated 16-01-2019 of my predecessor Tiwari, where in he had proposed that NOC should not be given, is missing from the file.”