Editorial
UP chairman's highhandedness
Unbecoming of public officeholder
News appearing in this paper recently that the principal of the Agriculture Training Institute (ATI) in Faridpur was assaulted in his residence by the thugs of a union parishad chairman because he was not offered "proper protocol" by the principal when he had called on the latter in his office, is indeed disturbing. The principal felt threatened enough to flee his place of work and take refuge in Dhaka.
However, there is more to the affair than the question of protocol. It had to do with coercing the principal to accept a teacher, who happened to be the UP chairman's brother, who was posted out several months ago from the ATI on charges of professional misconduct. He was posted back to the same institute, and here is the catch, on the recommendation of the Labour Minister reportedly, who the chairman claimed to be his cousin. The principal had initially refused to accept his joining order, but was bullied to do so.
We are also at a loss as to what to make of the Labour Minister's remarks with regards to the incident. He seemed to have put the blame on the principal suggesting that it was the principal who had misbehaved with the UP chairman and, almost as a retort, had suggested that such offenders should not be spared. That is, we are afraid, condoning a blatant highhandedness of the UP chairman and the physical attack on the principal by his apparatchiks. There are other avenues of redress of a government employee's misbehavior and physical assault is certainly not one of those.
We would like to draw the attention of the relevant authorities for appropriate action against the UP chairman in this regard. It cannot be the remit of a UP chairman to interfere with the running of a government institute.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments