SC panel seeks report from UT technical education secretary

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has asked the UT secretary of technical education to submit a report after an assistant professor accused the principal of using casteist remarks against him.

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has asked the UT secretary of technical education to submit a report, in 30 days, after an assistant professor of Government College of Art, Sector 10 accused the principal of using casteist remarks against him.

The incident happened after his wife, also an assistant professor at the college pointed out a mistake in a condolence message shared after the alleged death of a student in the hostel. (iStock)

In his complaint to the commission, Pankaj Saroj who works as an assistant professor at the college had alleged that on September 13 the principal Alka Jain used casteist remarks against him in the office in the presence of other teachers.

The incident happened after his wife, also an assistant professor at the college pointed out a mistake in a condolence message shared after the alleged death of a student in the hostel.

After the principal reprimanded her, he went to confront the principal. She made the comment and refused to meet him. While Saroj declined to comment, as per sources he had also written a letter to the UT administration including the adviser and the UT administrator on September 18.

He alleged that instead of acting on his complaint, the administration issued him a show cause notice on September 19.

He wrote a complaint to the commission on September 24 and is yet to approach the police regarding this.

Research officer for the commission A Bhattacharyya, in a letter to the secretary of technical education, has written that the commission has decided to investigate the matter in pursuance of powers conferred to it under Article 338 of the Constitution. The secretary has been directed to submit the facts of the case and the action taken on the allegations within 30 days.

In case the commission doesn’t receive a reply within the stipulated time, it may exercise the powers of Civil Courts conferred on it under Article 338 of the Constitution of India and issue summons for the secretary before the commission.

Despite several attempts, the college principal remained unavailable for comment.