The impression that the police will act on your complaint only if you are an influential person may become a thing of the past, with Chennai Police Commissioner S. George directing all police stations to ensure that complaints from the public are acknowledged and acted upon.
Amid reports that petitioners were being tossed from one station to another or made to wait for hours to meet police officers, Mr. George has instructed the police to receive complaints, issue Community Service Register receipt, and start investigation.
“We introduced a hotline (044-25615086) to enable the people to inform in case their complaints are not received in police stations. Initially, a number of calls were received, accusing some police officers of refusing to accept petitions or deliberately delaying action. Action was taken against the erring personnel… Such calls have now come down drastically,” Mr. George said. Soon after the order was issued, there was a substantial increase in the number of CSRs issued. This measure is similar to the Jalpaiguri experiment in West Bengal, where the police registered FIR in respect of all complaints.
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S. Kamaraj, AIADMK MLA of Krishnarayapuram in Karur district, set a worthy example by distributing his one month’s salary of Rs. 55,000 to the district student toppers and the toppers in his constituency in the Plus Two and SSLC examinations. While he gave away Rs. 5,000 to the topper, a cheque of Rs. 4,000 was given to the second rank holder and Rs. 3,000 to the third rank holder in all four categories. This is not the first time he has been donating his salary for public purposes. He has made it a regular habit, ever since he was elected an MLA in 2011, to donate his monthly salary for philanthropic activities. Besides helping poor students pursue education, he has been donating his salary for the benefit of the indigent party cadre.
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A Special Sub-Inspector attached to the Chintadripet police station incurred the wrath of his superiors after he went the extra mile with his allegiance to the ruling party. The cop printed a couple of vinyl posters thanking voters for making the party win 37 of the 30 Lok Sabha seats. Even better, he displayed a poster close to the Office of the Commissioner of Police. However, it didn’t amuse the authorities at the Commissionerate. The result: he was transferred from Chintadripet to Ayana varam.
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Two key unfilled positions at the University of Madras, created in 1998, have at last been filled. One is the post of Public Relations Officer, the face of the university. The other is that of Director of the Institute of Correspondence Education (later renamed as Institute of Distance Education). The concept of a PRO was introduced around 30 years ago, and the first PRO was from the Department of Collegiate Education, who served the university for over a dozen years. After his retirement, the university remained without a PRO for two years until the institution advertised for the post, and the selection of the candidate was formally approved by the Syndicate after much deliberation. The Institute of Distance Education, considered a department, also got a director. The power struggle among various associations resulted in the conversion of the post into one of three-year tenure. After the last director was suspended over a year ago, no effort had been made to fill the post. The Institute of Distance Education operates under an ‘in-charge’ director.
( S. Vijay Kumar, Syed Muthahar Saqaf, Petlee Peter and R. Sujatha )
