Oct 4, 2013

Irregularities and High handedness of Ms Monica Gard in selection of Director of autnonmous Institute

Sub : Scandalous attempt and High handedness of  one of the Joint Secretaries in MoT in Selection of  Director  Sardar Patel Institute of Textiles and  Management, Coimbatore   -  Third revised schedule   for interview held in October, 2013 by the MoT  – Wrong Composition of the Selection Committee constituted by MoT - Corruptive practices in selection to favour a person by  Monica Garg, JS in Ministry of Textiles –   Regarding

Dear Sir,

I am aggrieved with lots of  disappointment and distressed  to send this complaint to all the Officials concerned as per mailing list in  continuation of my earlier complaints  dated 05th September, 2013,  26rd September on the above subject with a request to look into the merit of the matter raised in the interest of identifying a right person to steer the Institution of national importance by adopting the good practices and governance rather than going by blind person’s method.   I am widely circulating among the press before I move the Court with a Writ petition and a PIL to quash the entire process of selection.

It is for information  that applications were invited for the  post of Director of Sardar Patel Institute of Textiles & Management, Coimbatore an autonomous Institute of MoT  through news paper advertisement  in May, 2013.  I am one of the applicants for the post who fulfills all the eligibility requirement including right and matching  experience with textiles background and was awaiting the call.

 Following are the serious and fundamental issues of high handedness of a Joint Secretary in MoT on the subject  requiring a probe by an independent agency like CVC :

 1.    The shortlisting was  revised so far twice. The previous shortlist was  revised to cut short a few candidates who do not meet the requisite parameters. Out of the earlier shortlisted candidates, a few have been reported to be dropped admittedly due to the deficiency in adoption of criteria as pointed out by me in my earlier complaint.

2.    The Interview schedule has been revised so far thrice, first for 15th September, second time revised to 26th September, 2013 and now third time revised to a date not finalized yet.

3.    In the composition of the Selection Committee,  Ms Monica Gard, Joint Secretary is one of the members, who is does not qualify to be a member of the Committee.   The Joint Secretary in the MoT is in the pay scale of  band  IV in  Grade Pay of Rs 10,000/- .  The post of the Director of the Institute as per the advertisement is also in the pay band  IV in the same Grade pay of Rs 10,000/-.  It is prima facie  case of high handedness of the MoT in making the panel with a member of the same rank, which is against the cannons of equity and code of good practices of composition of selection committee.   As per the recent news item appeared in the Times of  India and in terms of the revised Regulations prescribed by the DoPT which stipulated  that members of the selection committee should  be at least one rank above the post for which selection is to be made.  Even the Chairpersons of  UGC and AICTE have been dropped accordingly. (Copy enclosed for ready reference) . Even if the selection is made, the same would be abinitio void and therefore the appointment can be challenged in the Court of Law through a Writ as well as Public Interest Litigation.

4.    Every time, short notice of  4-5 days  is given, which is a clear attempt to preempt and preclose the process of slection and finally manifesting the malafide intention of closing the selection.  This  is a clear scandalous attempt to favour a specific individual to suit their whims and fancies.  Reason for such a hasty convening of the selection Committee is to be probed.

5.    It has been reliably learnt that this Joint Secreatary, Ms Monica Garg is in the same Ministry i.e MoT for more than 5 years right from the time when she was Director.  What is the policy of transfer  followed by DoPT and why the same was not applied in her case is a question mark.  There is need for review of the posting of the JS in the light of the guidelines of  DoPT on the matter.

6.    Inviting only three candidates is also against the norms / ratio prescribed by UPSC i.e upto 8 candidates for one post and is a clear attempt to preempt healthy competition by cutting short the larger choices before the Committee to explore all  the options open to them with a open mindset.  It is evident, that there is clear ulterior motive behind the whole hasty selection process and the same is now  vindicated by the actions of the JS.

7.    It is also learned that that one of the candidates had met Ms Monica Garg at her residence on 10th September, 2013 evening  after that the interview schedule had been revised.

8.    One Mr Russel Timathy, a faculty from NIFT is given the additional charge during the last 8 months. His appointment as Assistant Professor is being questioned in a Public Interest Litigation in the last month at his Institute. When a person’s appointment as Assistant Professor is challenged in the High Court, how he was considered for additional charge is another serious matter to be probed.

It is apparent that the Ministry Textiles officials are totally blind and unwilling to address the issues faced by the Institute during the last 5 years with a open mindset to select a right candidate to manage the affairs of the Institution. 

It is also a known fact  that one Mr Malmarugan, who had just completed his Ph.D  in General Management area i.e non textiles field, in May, 2013 and still awaiting his Certificate of Ph.D as I know personally is  one of the candidate called for the interview.  Mr Malmurgan, who was earlier employed with the same Institute was terminated from service  in December 2012 itself without any further extension of contract due the remarks in the Confidential Report for his known anti-social activities  and  instigating the students against the Institute for his controversial behavior. Mr During  the last 9 months, Mr Malmarugan  is not in any employment who is on the look out for employment and  doing nothing.  Whether the past CR dossiers Mr Malmarugan was  considered or not  while shortlisting is a matter to be probed. The basis of shortlisting his name by Ministry  is not known to any one including the insiders in the Institute  as a bolt from the blue.

The above scenario is a clear indication that officials in the Ministry  does not have any interest to select the right candidate with right skill-set with appreciation of the yardstick both in letter and spirit and trying to repeat the same mistake made last time in the selection of Mr Pujar. In the process, the interest of the Institute is compromised and the Institute is facing a serious threat of  decay and natural death with few admissions and nil activities during the last 2 – 3 years.

In view of the above, I humbly request that the entire matter of shortlisting, composition of the Selection Committee  and  interview rescheduled for third time within one  month may  be stopped forthwith  for instituting a a thorough  inquiry / review / probe with a view to redoing the complete exercise  right from re-advertisement with a open mindset with new set of selection committee to render justice to the whole selection mechanism. This  would only enable the MoT  to  ensure that right procedure is followed to  assess and  hiring of right personnel  for the post of Director of the Institute to steer the Institute with right vision.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,


(G Ramakrishnan)

ramkykumaraguru@gmail.com

Vadamadurai,

Coimbatore – 641 048


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