By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Sep 11: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) has slammed Meghalaya Director of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), Swapnil Tembe for issuing a show-cause notice to the principal of Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Jowai recently and demanded its withdrawal.
Further, it demanded that the DSEL tender an unconditional apology, not only to the principal for the “harassment” meted out but also to the general public for his attempt to infringe upon citizens’ right to make choices.
The school came under the scanner for playing a certain song during the celebration of Teachers’ Day on September 5. The VPP had used this song during election campaigns.
In a statement, VPP spokesperson, Batskhem Myrboh termed the show-cause notice as “unwarranted, fatuous, condemnable and worrisome”. He said the action of the officer revealed the predicament that plagues bureaucracy in Meghalaya.
Bureaucracy is supposed to be the most “rational element in the government” with the ability to perform with the “highest degree of efficiency”, he said.
The VPP spokesperson said the show-cause notice revealed two possibilities. First, he said, the officer concerned took the initiative on his own and this could be due to his total lack of knowledge and understanding of the Meghalaya Services (Conduct) Rules, 2019 or he was overenthusiastic to impress upon the party/parties ruling the state for reasons best known to him.
Myrboh said in the show-cause notice, the officer failed to cite any rule which the principal allegedly violated. He said there is no rule to fix responsibility upon a government servant for the action of students who are not governed by the Rules of 2019.
The VPP spokesperson said the second possibility is that the officer in question issued the notice at the direction of his political masters or some “terrified politicians”.
“Undoubtedly, some elements are petrified with the response of the people, including children in the state, to the call of the Voice of the People Party for clean politics,” Myrboh said.
He observed that such elements have the desire to find ways and means to intimidate people to stop the spread of people’s love for VPP.
Whatever the possibility is, the issuance of the notice reflects that there is a section in Meghalaya bureaucracy that is incompetent, irrational and spineless, he said, adding one wonders what will be the future of the state when there are such officers at the helm of affairs.