Punjab IAS officer to appear before panel on Jan 17, says NCSC

According to director (Headquarters), NCSC, Kaushal Kumar said principal secretary of school education Jaspreet Talwar will appear before the commission without police action on the date already fixed

National Scheduled Caste Commission (NCSC) on Friday clarified that the commission has not withdrawn its previously issued arrest orders against IAS Jaspreet Talwar and issued fresh orders. The NCSC said that the press release issued by the Information and public relations department of Punjab is misleading.

On January 9, IAS officer Jaspreet Talwar wrote a letter to NCSC explaining the reasons for not attending the hearing on January 2 and requested for the withdrawal of the warrant (Representational image)

In a statement Kaushal Kumar, director (Headquarters), NCSC, said Punjab’s I&PR department release with the heading “National Scheduled Castes Commission withdraws its order regarding arrest and production of principal secretary school education” said, “The National Scheduled Caste Commission has withdrawn its orders issued on January 6, 2023, regarding the arrest of Principal Secretary School Education Jaspreet Talwar and her presentation before the Commission,” is misleading.

Kumar said according to the fresh order issued by the commission today, principal secretary of school education Jaspreet Talwar will appear before the commission without police action on the date already fixed.

“The fact is that on January 9, Jaspreet Talwar wrote a letter to NCSC explaining the reasons for not attending the hearing on January 2 and requested for the withdrawal of the warrant assuring that she would attend the hearing in the NCSC headquarters on January 17, at 11 am,” Kumar said.

Kumar said the fact is that the press release of the government has concealed that Talwar has requested the commission for the withdrawal of arrest warrants, and the same request was made by the chief secretary, the next day. “Moreover, the release has wrongly stated that NCSC has issued fresh orders asking Jaspreet Talwar to appear before NCSC

“In view of the above facts, it is clear that the I&PR department, Punjab, due to reasons best known to them, have issued a factually wrong press release,” Kaushal said.