NOC row: Now, files to bypass Spl Secy Thind

Charanjit Singh Channi, Tourism and Cultural Affairs and Technical Education Minister

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 23

Principal Secretary, Technical Education, Anurag Verma has clipped the powers of Special Secretary-cum-Director, Technical Education, Parveen Thind, whose role is under the scanner for allegedly giving undue benefit to a private university.

The IAS officer is in the dock for issuing an NOC to change the affiliating authority of Chandigarh Polytechnic College, Gharuan, from the Punjab State Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training to Chandigarh University, Gharuan, under Principal Secretary’s stamp without his knowledge. Verma subsequently withdrew the permission and sought explanation from the officials concerned.

The Principal Secretary after nod from Technical Education Minister Charanjit Channi has curtailed powers of the Special Secretary and ordered that files of the department be routed to him through the Under Secretary, bypassing Thind.

The IAS officer is learnt to have clarified to the government that the NOC had been issued after seeking Channi’s approval. However, no FIR has yet been lodged against any official over disappearance of a note from the official record written by Verma’s predecessor DK Tewari, advising Channi to withdraw his consent given on the official file to issue the NOC.