The Hindu : New Delhi News : SFI demands action against Bhure Lal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

SFI demands action against Bhure Lal

Staff Reporter

For attending public meeting organised in JNU

Dr. Lal was invited by the Youth for Equality to speak on “Probity in Public Life”
“Is it wrong to have a morally upright man talk about honesty in public life?”

NEW DELHI: With polls to the Jawaharlal Nehru Students’ Union just round the corner, a public meeting organised by the Youth for Equality that was attended by Union Public Service Commission member Bhure Lal has not gone down well with some rival students’ organisations.

Dr. Lal was invited by the YFE to speak on “Probity in Public Life” on Sunday.

Though the outfit claims that the meeting attended by Dr. Lal was not connected with the ongoing campaigning for the elections, other student outfits are in no mood to buy this argument.

The Students’ Federation of India has written a strongly-worded letter to the UPSC chairperson Subir Dutta claiming that Dr. Lal “had breached the norms of propriety of a sitting UPSC member” by attending an election meeting of the YFE that is opposed to the 27 per cent reservation of Other Backward Classes in Central educational institutions and is a petitioner in the Supreme Court that is looking into this issue.

The letter has demanded that action be taken against Dr. Lal and that the UPSC make it clear through some public communication that it did not endorse or share the views of the YFE against OBC reservation.

“We have also sought a formal appointment with the UPSC chairman. Such a thing is unprecedented on the campus. Dr. Lal holds a public office and he cannot express his opinion on such a platform during the election time. The public advocacy for the political views of the YFE by him is a complete breach of the neutrality and impartiality of the UPSC,” said Albeena Shakil, SFI Delhi State secretary.

The convenor of the campaign committee of the All India Students’ Association Awadesh said this was “particularly unacceptable” as a number of JNU students appear for the UPSC examination.

“Dr. Lal spoke on the YFE’s platform which is a political platform. As a UPSC member, he is supposed to be neutral. During the meeting he claimed that he was against reservation. This has created unnecessary controversy,” he alleged.

Meanwhile, the YFE has argued that since JNUSU elections were not political elections there was nothing wrong in Dr. Lal’s lecture.

“Is it wrong to have a morally upright man talk about honesty in public life? We are not supported by any political party so why is Dr. Lal being dragged into a controversy. We got a huge support last time and we have become very popular this time round as well, which is why the other organisations are coming up with these useless arguments,” said the YFE spokesperson Amit Kumar Shrivastav.

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