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Reader's Mail

No, Sir....

The University School of Law and Legal Studies (USLLS), Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, is credited with many distinctions, including the one of being least amenable to reasonableness. What makes this writing inevitable is a recent notice by the Dean that conceives of the possibility of meeting the attendance requirement by attending extra classes.

Apart from the real causes for attendance shortage and varying standards of attendance calculation best known to USLLS, the notice does not take into account legitimate concerns of those students who do not have an attendance shortage, who do not need to attend classes if the syllabus has already been completed, but who would be marked absent if extra classes are taken and would consequently fall short of attendance (calculated as a percentage of the total number of classes taken)!

This hardly augurs well, particularly when examinations are round the corner and the first batch of LLB students are not yet out of USLLS. But this is not the first time the attendance weapon is being used nor is likely to be the last for persuasion to fall into a deaf ear.

What does USLLS hope to produce best? Certainly not lawyers.

Is there someone to listen?

Students of Law and Legal Studies,

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University,

Civil Block, Second Floor,

Kashmere Gate,

Delhi - 110 006.

Whose baby?

Whose obligation is it to fulfil the attendance requirement for appearing in examinations? If the April 21 communique by the Dean of the University School of Law and Legal Studies, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi, is to be believed, it appears to be of faculty members.

The communique states in the relevant part: "The office of the undersigned will have no objection to `extra classes' by the faculty members at the request of students apprehending shortfall of attendance." The communique raises several questions. First, what is the number of "extra classes" required to be attended by the students "apprehending shortfall of attendance"? Secondly, what will be the effect of "extra classes" on the students who meet the attendance requirement but who will necessarily be marked absent for not attending them, thereby inviting for them a shortfall of attendance calculated as a percentage of the total number of classes taken? And, finally and alternatively, what will properly be the subject of discussion in the "extra classes" if the syllabus has been completed in the regular classes taken on the teaching days during the semester?

The concern for the students "apprehending shortfall of attendance" must admit that, particularly during their semester, they all did not voluntarily stay away from classes. Nor can therefore their obligation to attend the requisite number of classes now become the faculty members' responsibility to help them make up the shortfall by taking "extra classes" and without addressing the questions raised above. The concern that counts "shortfall of attendance" but discounts its root causes invites reaction by those it attributes responsibility for what it puts a gloss over. Students, are, as always, most welcome to raise their genuine queries with teachers.

Faculty Members,

University School of Law and Legal Studies,

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University,

Kashmere Gate,

Delhi.

Shahdara calling

As many as 93 trains halt at Shahdara Junction every day. Over 50,000 passengers travel daily from here to other destinations, but the Railways have chosen to ignore certain vital aspects of passenger amenities such as cleanliness, hygiene, safety and provision of the latest train information to passengers.

The Enquiry office is functioning at this junction about 200 yards from the main platforms. Passengers have to walk down that distance to make use of the Enquiry office. The noticeboard is covered with a steel grill and is so dim that one can read it only with the help of a magnifying glass.

At our request in the past the Railway authorities extended the working hours of the Enquiry counter round the clock, but during night hours it is always without staff.

There is also a board provided outside the Head Ticket Collector's office for information about late running trains, but it is always found to be without information, which causes a great deal of inconvenience to passengers.

We suggest that the grill provided outside the Enquiry counter be removed and proper information about running of trains be given on the noticeboard, provided at the Enquiry counter and outside the Head Ticket Collector's Room on Platform No. 2.

M. B. Dubey Bijnori,

Secretary, Dainik Yatri Sangh,

Shahdara,

Delhi - 110 032.

SBI's ways

I have a savings account at the S. K. Nagar branch of the State Bank of India in Patna. The account No. is 00000010223842699. On the 27th of July last year, I withdrew Rs. 2,000 from an ATM in Delhi (Moolchand) on my way back to Patna. But it took two attempts for me to get the cash. In the first transaction the ATM displayed the message, "Transaction timed out". In the second attempt it dispensed the money. But what I did not know was that despite showing a failed transaction the first time round, an extra Rs. 2,000 had been debited from my account.

After I came to know of this discrepancy, I complained on the SBI website onlinesbi.com. There a ticket was raised and due action was assured. Nothing happened.

In the meantime, I had to come back to Delhi for studies. In my absence, my sister and mother repeatedly visited the Branch Manager but came back with what turned out to be hollow promises. Ridiculously, bank employees said "even we are suffering from the same problem"!

Despite our repeated complaints on the SBI website thereafter and many visits to the branch, nothing has happened yet.

Recently I read that SBI is the top profit-making bank in the country today. Is this thanks to such amounts swallowed up by its ATMs?

I hope something happens now.

Rajesh Ranjan,

Shibu Sharanam Apartments,

Buddha Colony,Patna.

Rationing woes

I have a serious grievance against the Rationing Department of the Delhi Administration.

I have applied on the prescribed form (No. 841908) dated 15/12/2005 (Food and Supplies Department, Delhi Administration) and submitted to the Rationing Office, Shalimar Bagh Zone, and have been issued Acknowledgment Receipt No. 000559066 dated 15/12/2005: "Received Application No. 841908 from Mr. Narinder Singh Kapur along with Consumer Card No. 212907.

Ration Card may be collected from this office on or after......between......to......on any working day except holiday."

I have made numerous visits to the rationing office but no one is able to tell me about the fate of my ration card. I am now informed verbally that I should keep visiting the office and I may succeed one day! Is this how a senior citizen should be treated?

N. S. Kapur,

K(U)-6, Pitampura,

Delhi - 110 088.

(Letters for this column may be sent by e-mail to wsins@thehindu.co.in. They must carry the full postal address of the writer and should be marked "Reader's Mail".)

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