Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter AGE DOES MATTER! PREMATURE FORCEFUL RETIREMENT OF HEAD CONSTABLE

                                              

Firoz.T.Totanawala

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

15th November 2011 issue-

 AGE DOES MATTER!

PREMATURE FORCEFUL RETIREMENT OF HEAD CONSTABLE

The negligence on the part of a Head Master cost P. Racha, a Head Constable in Yelahanka Traffic, four years of service. The apathy of the police top brass in not honouring the judgement of a court forced the Head Constable to retire from service despite having four more years of service. Further, he was ordered to retire on 31.11.2010! This is the first time in the history of Gregorian calender that November month has been shown as having 31 days! The tragedy of errors has left P. Racha, a sad man.

P. Racha, a Head Constable in Yelahanka Traffic was forced to retire four years before attaining superannuation. Despite the tell tale evidences of his age, his relentless efforts to restore his original date of birth, supported by a court’s decree to that effect has gone in vain. The red tapism too has contributed its might.

P. Racha, was born in a dalit family in Kollegal in November 1954. The entries in Primary school too show this date. According to Racha, he studied in a government National higher primary school and it is here that his tale of woe started. The school authorities issued the TC to study in High School, and wrongly mentioned his date of birth as 22.11.1950 instead of 1954, he said.

“Due to my dalit background, I did not realise this blunder initially. It was only when I failed in SSLC; I discovered this blunder and few sympathisers advised me to get the date of birth changed to the original date”, he said. After making futile attempts to get my date of birth changed, I approach the Kollegal Munsiff Court in 1982. The court after conducting proceedings issued a decree in 1983 giving a direction to the authorities to change my date of birth from 22.11.1950 to 22.11.1954. The court declared that the date of birth of Racha as 22.11.1954”, he added.

He joined the Police department in 1984 and the police department continued with Racha’s 1950 inflated date of birth in the absence of the modified certificate from the education department. “The education department took its own sweet time of more than a decade to effect the necessary changes in my certificate and marks card. In fact, the JDPI and Divisional Secretary of the SSLC Board started acting on the issue only after the Deputy Director of prosecution (Civil) gave the opinion in 2008 and that too acting on the letter by the police Inspector of Yelahanka Traffic”, said Racha.

“However, before all these developments, I had made several representations to the ACP, DCP, Police Commissioner and even DGP, pleading them to effect the change, in date of birth as decreed by the Kollegal Court . They directed me to submit the necessary records to take the needful action, and not once but many times and every time, I submitted the required records including the changed SSLC Marks Card etc., but no action was initiated. The only action in this regard was the letter by the Inspector of Yelahanka Traffic to the JDPI, Mysore Division. And here too, the JDPI and Divisional Secretary of the SSLC Board took more than a year to clarify the issue. The JDPI had stated that as per the decree of the Kollegal court, my date of birth has been changed and that my application for change of date of birth can be considered”, he further added.

Then in July, 2010, the DCP (Traffic) issued a Memo publishing the list of police personnel retiring from July to November 2010 and Racha’s name was also there in the list. Interestingly this Memo/Order did not have any date even though it has the Number as No.112/Sibbandi-1/Sam.Pa/2010. It is another matter that DCP has signed the Memo on 8th July. In the list of 1 to 9, the 9th name was P. Racha, Head Constable. And blunder of blunders is that the date of their retirements has been shown as 31.11.2010!

November month has only 30 days and one wonders how the officials in the DCP office made it a 31 days month! Even after the blunder was detected, there was no rectification done. Now further, considering the order, Racha had to retire on 31^st of November, 2010, but as November does not have the 31^st day, Racha was forced to retire on 30.11.2010! This is another blunder as he has been retired a day earlier than the stipulated date!

“While I submitted the records many times from 2007, the police commissioner directed the DCP to provide information whether I had applied for change of date of birth within the stipulated time as provided in the rules. Actually, the rules were amended in 2006 and three years time was provided for applying change in date of birth”, clarified Racha.

“However, if this was to be the stand taken just a month before my forcible retirement, why did the top brass not reject my application in 2007 itself? Why did they demand court orders, rectified certificates etc. on many occasions?  Finally, few days before I was given an endorsement that my application cannot be considered as it is time barred and was forced to retire. If my application was rejected at the initial stage itself under the same rules, I would have either resigned to fate of losing four precious years of service or had challenge the rejection in a court of law”, he argued.

It is time, the top brass and also the Home Minister take a look at the entire episode and do justice to Racha, or is it too much to expect from them?