Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Sept 27: Con-fession made by an employee of Planning and Statistical Department about purchasing his degree certificates will open Pandora’s Box as the State High Court today sought information from the State Government on appointments made during last 20 years in the Department.
This information was sought after one of the employees of the Planning and Statistical Depart-ment confessed before the court that he has obtained his Post Graduation in Economics against the huge payment towards Manav Bharti University.
Justice MH Attar of the High Court today ordered Chief Secretary of the State to prove complete details of the employees appointed in Planning and Statistical Department during last 20 years.
“How many candidates in the Planning and Statistical Department have been appointed for last 20 years who have obtained degrees through study centres. The full particulars of such persons, their date of appointment and posts presently held by them shall be provided to the court”, directed the court.
Two employees of the Planning and Statistical Depart-ment have approached the court seeking a formal order of Junior Statistical Assistant (JSA) be issued in their favour and they be appointed on the post of JSA. But the department had maintained that Universities from where they have got degrees are not recognized either by the UGC or the State Government.
One of the employees while appearing in person before the court was asked to project his case in English. When he failed to speak English in the court, he was asked to write a brief of five lines on ‘Advanced Macro Economics’, the subject in which he has qualified his Post Graduation.
The employee could not write the name of subject properly as he wrote “Micro” instead of “Macro”. The State Government counsel asked him to differentiate between Monetary Economics and Fiscal Economics. Despite copying from the material which was available with the employee, he was unable to differentiate between the Monetary and Fiscal Econo-mics.
After failing to answer the questions posed to him in the court, the employee sought withdrawal of the writ petition but court declined. “At this stage, since the employee has stated at bar that he has obtained the certificate through some study centre and has paid huge amount, in order to find out as to how many such degrees in such subject have been issued by these Study Centers and Tuck Shops, the writ petition can’t be withdrawn”, said Justice Attar.
Court also said that to find out how adversely these activities have affected vital interest of the State as such directed the Chief Secretary to provide the information of appointments in the Planning Department within two weeks and posted the matter for further proceedings on October 19.
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