DSP job to Beant Singh’s grandson under HC lens

CHANDIGARH: The appointment of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh’s grandson Guriqbal Singh as a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) has come under the scanner of the Punjab and Haryana high court.

The high court bench of justice RK Jain has put the Punjab government and the DSP on notice for August 1.

Gurvinder Rattan, a contractual teacher in Sangrur district, has challenged the appointment arguing while Guriqbal was given a job on the basis of graduation degree obtained through distance education several employees in Punjab are not being regularised on the ground that they had obtained degrees through distance edu- cation from universities outside the state.

Guriqbal has a degree from Pariyar University, Salem, in Tamil Nadu.

As per the petitioner’s counsel HC Arora, an order was issued on June 23, 2015, by the director public instructions (secondary education) stating that the petitioner’s continuation in service as a vocational master (computer science) would be subject to authenticity of his master’s degree obtained through distance education from Madurai Kamraj University. The committee headed by the chief secretary is looking into it.

The counsel also referred to case of 192 clerks who were not allowed to join as they had acquired their degrees through distance education from univer- sities situated outside Punjab.

The court was told that B.Com degree was obtained by Guriqbal Singh from Paryiar University through distance education but the state government did not wait for the chief secretary’s report and appointed him as DSP on June 7, 2017.The state government’s conduct was discriminatory, Arora argued.

“In the case of politically connected people like Guriqbal Singh, the educational qualifications acquired through distance education are being accepted, while such degrees are not being entertained in case of other candidates.The respondents should be directed to adopt uniform approach in case of all citizens irrespective of their social or political status,” Arora had told the court.