Cachar College incident: We need to ponder on the way the district authority handled it, writes Vivek Podder

What is executive power? What are it’s limits? How much of it you can use in a particular situation? These are all matters of long debate. You cannot use an elephant gun to shoot a mosquito. Even though the mosquito may be bothering you no end. Using the elephant gun will imply that either the user is not in his right frame of mind or that he is misusing the power at his disposal.

I assume for the purpose of argument that the officer / professor designated to pick up the question papers was at fault. He reached late which is not expected and cannot be excused. Forget whether his car had trouble or whatever be the reason. One can take an auto or alternative transport and reach with 15 to 30 minutes of the reporting time. This is important as the exams are concerned with the employment of thousands of youth. This must be taken seriously and no excuse is good enough for this delay as in extreme case any alternative professor could have been assigned and if required the principal should have moved if any of his colleagues were not in a position to go on time. This is all very right. I also stand by this that exam duty in such case is sacrosanct and it involves the life and career of our youths.

However, if the concerned professor has defaulted then how the matter should have been handled and how it was handled. This is a very serious matter to debate. Can any District Authority physically attack such defaulters or should it not have been a case where the matter was highlighted to the reporting authorities and a case be moved for ensuring that the defaulting persons be marked in their service record and their promotions and such other benefits seized? This is of course subject to the damage caused by the delay in the career and prospects of the students appearing in the exam.

A principal of a college has a wide range of powers and this can extend upto rusticating a student and spoiling his future and it can be a mater of warning and even reduction of marks or grade. Can and should the principal use his last resort at the first instance of eve teasing or indiscipline in the class? The matter is actually at the discretion of the concerned Principal. If he has joined recently and wants to give a message to his students then he may rusticate and spoil a child’s future and thus ensure that children are scared of him or he may show his maturity and handle the matter with a warning , counselling…..

We are a democratic nation and officers / administration have to use their administrative and judicial power with utmost care. Especially, if you are dealing with professors and people who impart education, you have to give them their space and dignity. If the professor was physically harassed and made to kneel down or even if unparliamentary words were used by any officer in public, then necessary action must be initiated. Let there be no politics on the matter.

Whether the principal is a good person? Whether the students and teachers like the principal? These are all immaterial to this subject under discussion. I am not getting involved in these matters as they are purely the matter of the concerned parties and has nothing to do with the subject under discussion.

Power of the people is the strength of Democracy. Any individual can be powerful only and only when we the citizens give them power. We can give the power and we have the option of taking away the power. Let us honestly assess the situation and not spare the guilty.