Jalandhar deputy commissioner (DC) Priyank Bharti on Monday directed city police to take action against principals of five educational institutions for showing disrespect to national honour. Bharti sought action against principals of Doaba College, BD Arya Girls' College, KMV College, Khalsa College for Women and DAV College under Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.
The DC issued the directions after the five colleges ignored the showcause notices served on them by the administration for not attending a meeting to chalk out a plan for the Independence Day celebrations at the district level.
Bharti said earlier the district administration had sent letters to the principals of these colleges to attend the meeting, but representative of none of the colleges was present. Bharti said these institutions had shown disrespect by not sending their students to take part in the cultural programme, which are important for them.
He said the prime function of colleges was to spread awareness among students about the importance of these days such as the Independence Day in the national calendar. BB Sharma, principal of DAV College said he was not aware of any such orders of the DC. He said the administration had asked the college to send students for bhangra dance, but it was difficult to do so as the session was midway and moreover, admission process was also underway. "Various teams of college students have been participating in other events of the Independence Day programme," he said.
Naresh Dhiman, principal of Doaba College, said he too had no knowledge of the DC's orders. "The NCC team of the college is taking part in the function," he added. BD Arya Girls' College principal Sarita Verma said the name of her college was "wrongly" included in the list. She said she had talked with the administration official concerned and they had assured to remove the name of college.
{{/usCountry}}Naresh Dhiman, principal of Doaba College, said he too had no knowledge of the DC's orders. "The NCC team of the college is taking part in the function," he added. BD Arya Girls' College principal Sarita Verma said the name of her college was "wrongly" included in the list. She said she had talked with the administration official concerned and they had assured to remove the name of college.
{{/usCountry}}On the other hand, Aatima Sharma, principal of KMV College, said: "Due to the sudden illness of a student during Monday's final rehearsal, our team reached the PAP campus late. But I am unaware of the DC's orders." Deputy commissioner of police Sarbjit Singh said police would look into the orders of the DC and take action accordingly.