So, time was approaching fast to bid farewell to the institution which I started serving in 1969. My superannuation was expected on 30th April 2011, at the ripe age of 65. Probably, those who had been going through my memories might have noticed that I had my good days and bad days in my service. I had certainly setbacks , but by God’s grace I could face them with equanimity and keep my head straight throughout my career. Before I wind up these episodes in the next one, I have to mention the last stab in the back from the administration.
I had almost six months
before superannuation. The incumbent director’s
term was coming to an end soon. Even though he was
trying his best to get re-appointment, it seems he was not
successful at that and so had to hand over charge to the senior most
professor in the institution before leaving. As
the appointment of the new director cannot be done
overnight, it would take anything from four to six months before
the new director takes over. Further, some
new conditions like the applicant should be a
graduate or post graduate in engineering were being
stipulated. Because of this condition, the
likelihood of the incumbent director who was a professor
of physics, getting another term was least likely.
During the previous few years,
whenever the director was on
leave or not available in the campus, I, as
the senior most professor,
was officiating as director in charge and naturally many
of my colleagues and me thought I will be the director in
charge till the new director is
appointed or I superannuate whichever is earlier. However, what the outgoing
director thought was different. He was not ready to
hand over charge to me as I am known to be a person who
plays my games straight with no ulterior motive. He started
exploring methods how to avoid giving charge to me.
Probably he had discussed the matter with his close advisers and
together they found out a way by which I
lost my seniority on a particular day to another professor who
incidentally was the Dean Planning & Development at that time.
He was known to be the Director’s
‘yours truly’ for all activities involving huge
expenditure for building construction. It seems
this gentleman particularly was helpful and obliging for
cooking up some files when there was a sudden inspection of
CBI in the college. CBI wanted certain files to be delivered to them
within 24 hours. He was called from his
residence in the city to come over
to the campus and ‘prepare’ the files to be handed over
to CBI. This gentleman became senior to me overnight
ignoring my long-standing seniority.
It is a fact that this gentleman
became professor a full eight months after my becoming a professor
in a temporary leave vacancy. Even though both of us were almost of
the same age, he had joined REC only in 1971
whereas I had joined in 1969. As I had already indicated in
an earlier episode, both of us appeared for interview for
the post of professor in 1987 and I
was ranked for Professor (Instrumentation and Control
Systems–PG) and
Professor (Electrical Engineering-EE) and he was
ranked in the list for Professor (Electronics Engineering-ECE).
However, the posts of EE and
ECE could be filled only by the beginning of
next academic year. However, the post of Professor
(PG) was a leave vacancy and I was appointed against that
vacancy on 17-9-1987 while the other gentleman continued
as Assistant Professor till 1-6-1988, when
both of us were appointed against the
permanent posts in the respective
departments with effect from
1-6-1988. Anyone who has worked in
central or state government services will understand that seniority counts
from the first date of
appointment to a higher cadre. Obviously, as I was
appointed as professor eight
months before him, my
seniority was established beyond doubt as I
became professor earlier. But, the director took
a stand that as both were posted against
permanent vacancies on
the same day by the same selection,
he is senior as his rank in the selection (EC)
was better than my rank in EE. I wrote a letter to
the Ministry of Human Resources
Development pointing out this, however, the staff in
the personnel department being regularly entertained by
the incumbent director whenever he visits Delhi, did not even bother to send me
a reply. I had seen accidentally once how the computer
bills at the Ashoka hotel bar was being presented for
reimbursement as item under ‘entertaining guests’
which is not auditable.
As I had less than 6
months to superannuate, I did not bother to go
to the court as decisions on such service
matters being a civil case will take
years to settle. Probably, they were also certain that I
will not go to the court for this purpose. I remember the
words of the incumbent director once he made
about some other incident. Things happen in
high circles is as per the saying “ I scratch
your back, you scratch my back” manner. Naturally
he obliged the person who
helped him as Dean (P&D) for whatever he
wanted to do. I knew that
as Director in charge for 6
months, I cannot do much but felt sad at the way my seniority for several years
could vanish into thin air on a fine
morning. I decided to forego a
few hundred bucks as
allowance for director in charge and
status obtained by virtue of it. As a
token protest, I did not attend any
official meeting called by the in-charge-director till
my superannuation. I did not
even receive the
memento given to superannuating
faculty in the presence of
other members of the
council. Comfortably and quietly, I returned to my department and
leisurely prepared for my superannuation on 30th April 2011.
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