Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) out rightly rejected the inquiry ordered by education minister OP Soni to fix responsibility for the mistakes in the history books for class 12 to be conducted by the education secretary is a major cover up and a farce as accusing fingers are raised at the minister himself.
Stating this here today, former minister and senior vice- president of the Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) Dr. Daljeet Singh Cheema questioned the rationale of Soni ordering an enquiry while he himself is accused by none other than the chairman of the Oversight Committee appointed by chief minister Amarinder Singh.
Instead of holding inquiry by a secretary at the orders of the concerned minister Soni, Cheema argued that the Chief Minister himself should have ordered inquiry which should have been held by a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court with a clear frame of reference the role of the concerned minister too be probed in the larger interest of justice.
Moreover, Dr. Cheema said that how could a subordinate officer i.e. secretary of the department under Soni, could be objective, impartial and fair in conducting inquiry while his own boss Soni is in the dock.
Dr Cheema pointed out that chairman of the “Oversight Committee”, Dr. Kirpal Singh has revealed that he had pointed out the errors/ distortions in each chapter in detail in clearly typed pages but these chapters were uploaded on the website of the Punjab School Education Board without carrying the suggested corrections under pressure from the minister.
Dr. Kirpal Singh in his letter written to Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Gobind Singh Longowal has mentioned that the pressure for undue hurry” had forced Punjab School Education Board(PSEB) to upload chapters without corrections. “The type of pressure needs to be probed”, said Dr. Cheema .
In the light of the assertions of Dr. Kirpal Singh, the role of Soni is suspect and needs to be scanned by some objective , impartial and credible inquiry before being given a clean chit, said Dr.Cheema
The SAD leader urged the chief minister to wind up the secretary level inquiry and order a fresh inquiry to ensure people’s faith in the present dispensation.