RGNUL Patiala students have been trying in vain for more than eight months to obtain the report in the hard-won inquiry against university staffer SP Singh, with the Punjab and Haryana high court’s Right to Information (RTI) first appellate authority having on 18 February 2020 rejected that it needed to provide the document.
The high court in its RTI response to Arjun Aggarwal - a former student bar president of NUJS Kolkata before joining private practice - first denied having the inquiry report ordered by RGNUL’s chancellor (who is also the high court’s chief justice); then, on appeal, it said that such inquiry report did not fall within the high court’s RTI obligations since it was ordered in the chief justice’s capacity as chancellor.
The university should therefore be approached for the document, said the high court.
However, RGNUL has said repeatedly in an RTI response and appeal that it does not have a copy; vice chancellor (VC) Paramjit Jaswal confirmed this to us by phone last week, reiterating that the university did not have a copy of the report.
The students had instructed Arjun Sheoran from Chandigarh-based law firm Vaakya Legal to represent their interests in the inquiry and follow-up.
Sheoran told us in a statement:
The enquiry initiated into RGNUL’s former Administrative Officer Capt. S.P. Singh (Retd.)’s actions has only made us ask more questions. As counsels for the students, Vaakya Legal has been a part of this enquiry since the very beginning and I find it very strange that the students have still not been given a copy of the report prepared at the end of this enquiry which was on the basis of complaints of many students of RGNUL and supported by testimonies of witnesses.
It is a settled principle of law that every enquiry needs to have a report of the findings, and the same should be served to the complainant party. However, neither RGNUL, nor the District Court, Patiala, nor the administrative authorities at the Hon’ble High Court of Punjab & Haryana seem to possess a copy of the final enquiry report. This reeks of a mala fide intent on the part of the system and there seems to be an effort to cover up the possible adverse findings against RGNUL’s administration and officers.
The strange tale of a disappeared report
Capt (retd) SP Singh had been sent on compulsory leave from RGNUL as administrative officer following student protests, including against his alleged behaviour.
The students in their March 2019 protests had successfully pushed for a formal inquiry into the allegations, which had been granted.
In April 2019, students then participated in the judicial inquiry chaired by Patiala-based additional district and sessions judge Manjot Kaur, appointed by the RGNUL chancellor and Punjab & Haryana high court chief justice, giving witness statements and their accounts to Kaur.
Kaur later submitted her report to the chancellor (who is the also high court’s chief justice), according to an RTI repsonse from the district court.
Since then, RGNUL students had been keen to get written confirmation of their grievances in the inquiry but the report was apparently never delivered to students or the university (though they did manage to get the National Commission for Women (NCW) to record some of their grievances in writing, in May 2019).
But the reasoning for why the Kaur inquiry report was never published or formally submitted, is not entirely clear.
Singh had been sent on compulsory leave before the start of the inquiry, and had apparently permanently resigned from his position a little while later.
But... RGNUL has no copy
The present unsuccessful RTI to the high court had not been the first.
RGNUL Patiala, via its public information officer (PIO) on 8 August 2019, had initially replied to an RTI reply from students seeking the inquiry order made by Kaur. Instead, RGNUL had provided a copy of the order that had ordered Kaur to commence her inquiry.
A first appeal by students against that response (see above), on 10 September 2019, was rejected by RGNUL with the reasoning that the PIO did not in fact have a copy of the order.
And high court... is not sure
In the newer RTIs, in which students requested this information from the high court, its PIO noted that this “information is not available in the records”.
Meanwhile, in the RTI appeal, the high court noted that any records potentially held by RGNUL’s chancellor, who is also the Chief Justice of the high court, were not available to the PIO of the high court.
In particular, noted the order, any documents held by the chief justice in his capacity as chancellor of RGNUL would not be accessible via RTI to the high court.
The order cited judicial authority for both those contentions (see full order below).
One RGNUL student, on condition of anonymity, said that the “actions of SP Singh continue to remain an open wound for the students of RGNUL”.
“While we did eventually find out about SP Singh’s resignation through the news, since the enquiry was conducted and a report was prepared, we expected that a copy of the same would naturally be given to our counsels,” added the student, noting:
It has been more than eight months since the conclusion of the enquiry and the triad of authorities involved; (i) RGNUL; (ii) District Court, Patiala (Smt. Manjot Kaur); and (iii) Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court have gone on record, denying having a copy of the enquiry report which should have legally been furnished to us being primary parties in the enquiry.
What is more appalling is that RGNUL has told us that it does not possess a copy of the report whereas the District Court asked us to approach the High Court for a copy of the report. However, the High Court directed us back to RGNUL to seek a copy of the report making a mockery of the entire enquiry.
The student said that students were considering their future legal options in this.
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Jaswal's not the leading candidate for the NLUD VC-ship, I'm sure he already knows that, so should you.
Nothing could be better for ANY NLU than to get an NLU ALUM VC rather than this lobby of old boys playing VC VC.
twitter.com/freergnul
It seems to be quite clear that Paramjit is being protected. The question is why.
It's been so many months since the inquiry, and the students don't have any closure. The man harassed us for years, treated those most vulnerable with indignation and went off with no repercussions. The students on the other hand have had to hear consistently from Prof. Walia and the VC. We have a good-for-nothing Interim Registrar who continues with the harassment through immense red-tapism. No call for a permanent Registrar has been made in more than a year and a half. RGNUL is being made into a cesspool of academic blockheads.
Heads need to roll!
This will have an impact on all future protests of all NLUs. We have to be more cautious in future protests. Perhaps say no to enquires altogether and ask for resignations straight away.
Sometimes the allegations and unity is enough to get someone thrown out especially administrators. They can't administer us if we don't want them to. The students make the college not visa versa.
So, we should let evil fester and fatten off us. Savvy?
I am not suggesting that SJA did anything illegal in 2018 to evict PIB. But had the students only stuck to the so-called "legal process" that you suavely expressed, PIB would have continued. By the way this was also the point that was "laboured" by a faculty who often forgets about deprivation when it comes down to choosing personal access to/benefits from VC and interests of students. Then again "heroes" are rarely suspected and public/student memories are short.
All students do not think alike. Many of us do not agree with tactics adopted by SJA and that may also have to do with our personal equations with the concerned office bearer or the affected faculty member. But are you seriously saying that there is no evidence of maladministration by PIB & Co. and you don't see two successive VCs trying their best to hush up things?
NKC has been forced to admit in the EC that NUJS lacks BCI affiliation since 2011. At least Rs 5 crores need to be refunded to UGC from just Plan XI to avoid getting into the black list. UGC repeatedly declined the utilization certificates submitted by NUJS. The AO who couldn't accomplish the "creative accounting" then is now being handsomely paid as a "Consultant" to hide the crores deep holes. Thanks to Justice Talukdar we never joined the CLAT Consortium then and lost out Rs. 1.5 crores in CLAT fees. We paid the membership fee only recently. Now there is a tax demand of Rs 7.7 crores. Delhi HC has okayed refunds for aggrieved distance education students and Calcutta HC is likely to follow suit.
As RGNUL/PH HC story clearly shows, institutional opacity and corruption runs deep. Too many powerful interests.
Are you suggesting that those who do not have the means etc to weather a rapacious, capricious system, should quietly suffer away and "protest" only when they can install a system that again benefits the "haves" (as in you)?
RGNUL's situation is quite different. They appear to be actually being rebuffed by the courts themselves. That makes the moment ripe for protests, but the way an earlier commentator was ranting about resignations being the only thing that protestors should aim for, instead of trying to gather evidence supporting their allegations, or the way you started washing dirty laundry in the public at the drop of a hat and accusing everyone under sun, augurs ill for any protests that you all lead at least.
indianexpress.com/article/education/institutions-of-eminence-kalinga-institute-of-industrial-technology-kiit-odisha-vellore-institute-of-technology-vit-tamil-nadu-6296407/
Have often wondered how KIIT which nearly got black listed by MHRD after Arjun Singh was evicted from the ministry, could suddenly become IoE. Guess the presence of retired UGC, NAAC etc honchos helped and some hard work as well. Political climate was also favourable.
www.telegraphindia.com/india/outrage-greets-nomination-of-ranjan-gogoi-to-the-rajya-sabha/cid/1754453
theprint.in/india/former-cji-ranjan-gogoi-nominated-to-rajya-sabha-less-than-6-months-after-retirement/382089/
Not surprised that this man gave us PJ? He thereafter did a terrible PJ on his three mates en route to a higher chair. Sitting there PJs just kept getting belted out. Singhvi has so much to say now. And will likely repeat again when SAB (get the hint?) ho jayega.
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