The Hindu : New Delhi News : Aligarh calling

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Monday, Apr 06, 2009
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Aligarh calling

The accusations made by M. Hashim Kidwai in his letter about life on Aligarh Muslim University campus, “V-C raj”, in these columns this past Monday are baseless. How can someone who is not a part of the campus judge the conditions prevailing here today? On the other hand, we as resident students on the campus right now are witness to a whole lot of positive changes that have taken place during the tenure of the present Vice-Chancellor.

Earlier, the hostels were full of illegal occupants. No longer. In the past we would not venture out during night for fear of armed attackers. Now, we can. The safety measures undertaken by the present V-C have made the campus safe and secure.

Mr. Kidwai has also alleged misuse of emergency powers by the V-C, which again is an unfounded accusation. We have been provided with an undisturbed, peaceful atmosphere. Now students cherish the hassle-free hostel life. We are not living in prisons. No policeman can be found on the campus. The gates are manned by the hall employees and students readily cooperate with them. No student complains against the new security system in place for the safety of the residents.

Marghoob Husain, Gulam Jeelani, Saba Iram,

MM, SZ, and IG Halls, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh – 202 002, Uttar Pradesh.

No V-C raj….

The letter “V-C raj” (Reader’s Mail, March 30) seriously falters on facts. It is far from truth that the Vice-Chancellor has been running Aligarh Muslim University using emergency powers. In fact, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor P. K. Abdul Azis, convenes meetings of the University’s Executive Council, Academic Council, Court and other bodies regularly.

Fifteen EC meetings have been convened in the past 15 months. The V-C even fixed dates for the EC meetings but some politically motivated members of the council seem determined to derail the democratic functioning of the University. They do not attend the meetings, which are then adjourned for lack of quorum. Mr. Kidwai seems ignorant of the ground reality and his observations seem to be based on hearsay; in two months, three meetings of the Executive Council were convened and a meeting of the Court is due shortly.

It is again not correct to say that a surveillance system and a central monitoring system were set up. The V-C allows deliberation not only on issues on the agenda but also on the action taken report. All the decisions are taken by the Executive Council and the emergency powers are exercised only in exceptional cases.

Saghir Afrahim,

Professor, Department of Urdu, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh – 202 002.

Calling RBI….

The new system of cheque clearance introduced in Delhi by the Reserve Bank of India wherein scanned copies of the cheques are transmitted by the collecting banks to the drawee banks instead of being sent physically is causing a lot of trouble to the customers. Many a time cheques are returned “unpaid” to customers while the drawers’ accounts are debited on the basis of the scanned copy. This leaves the transit amount held in suspense by the collecting banks without being credited to the customers’ accounts.

The Reserve Bank should restore the earlier practice of physical transmission of cheques rather than clearing through scanned copies. India is not ready yet for such advanced technology. There are too many other aspects which should be adopted first for the benefit of the banking system as well as the account holders.

The top priority should be to make it compulsory for banks to present every cheque deposited during normal working hours till 5 p.m. in the same night’s clearing through their respective centralised offices handling the clearing system. The clearance should be available the very next morning just as in the High-Value-Clearing system. It will help solve the problem of cheque return in a centre like Delhi where many cheques from Ghaziabad, Noida, etc., are returned unpaid because of too many holidays in Uttar Pradesh as compared to Delhi. The Delhi centres of the banks handle simultaneous clearing of cheques from many cities of UP and Haryana.

Subhash Chandra Agrawal,

1775 Kucha Lattushah, Dariba, Chandni Chowk, Delhi – 110 006.

A sour dish

I am a customer of DishTV DTH service and my VCC No. is 01504466314. I am a Maxipack subscriber. When I renewed my pack online through credit card using the VCC number, the user name and the password of DishTV on January 22, my transaction of Rs.1,010 for three months got wrongly solicited into TopperTV. The amount was credited in favour of ASC Enterprises on January 24. DishTV, however, deactivated my Maxipack, and has been arguing since that as per their records against my VCC number the due date for renewal was January 27 and that Rs.50 was due. “We would like to inform you,” it said, “that the payment of Rs.1,010 has been transferred to another VCC.”

My complaints (No. 20509919, 20457361, 20252529, 20115932, 20984669, 21551668) and e-mails to their Customer Care over the past two months have been in vain. It is absurd and surprising how DishTV accepts payment for another company through its dedicated website and that, too, through its VCC card, user name and password.

I am neither being given any information about the amount that I paid nor am I being provided the service for which I made the payment.

V. V. Ramamurthy,

D II/1, IARI Staff Quarters, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi – 110 012.

Think twice

This is apropos political parties either fielding or considering actors and cricketers for candidature in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Given their popularity, many such candidates get elected. This increases the seat tally for their parties, but means nothing for the common man. Take the examples of film stars like Dharmendra, Govinda and Jayaprada, who have flopped badly as MPs. They didn’t take their job seriously.

For once now, voters should think twice before electing an actor as a member of Parliament.

Saklain Majeed Dar,

133, Jaggerpora, Kupwara – 193 222, Jammu & Kashmir.

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