They say the pen is mightier than the sword. And as we can see in the real-life incident I am about to relate below; the pen can also be mightier than mindless government apathy.
The pen can achieve when it writes a letter seeking redressal for a grievance to a persona like Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, then Honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal. That pen was wielded by my wife. The issue was so simple—my date of birth as reflected on my school final certificate was wrong and had to be corrected.
The Chief Minister referred the matter to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. And my mark sheet was corrected.
In spite of that correction, the then Commissioner of Personal and Services Department of my state of domicile and work, Tripura, chose to procrastinate on the matter of making necessary corrections to all relevant records of my service. He appointed a one-man inquiry commission to look into the matter. After due verifications, the commission reached a verdict in my favour.
But the Commissioner did not accept that verdict.
In despair, we contacted the Chief Minister of West Bengal, and the upshot of that effort was that the WBBSE sent the corrected certificate by fax to Tripura’s P&S Department.
Finally, on September 30, 2007—the day of my retirement—the Commissioner moved the file to the office of Tripura’s Chief Minister.
Unfortunately, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar was out of state. However, his secretary took note of the shabby treatment and injustice that had been meted out to me. The secretary obtained the concurrence of the Chief Minister over the phone and recorded it in the file.
That very kind action by the secretary was a reflection of the magnanimity of his superior, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.
By the time the P&S Department was finally able to move on correcting my records, it was October 03, 2007, three days into my retirement. The Department enabled a backdated correction and that finally brought the saga to an end.
The letter that my wife sent to Rt. Honourable Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is appended below:
May 1, 2007
To
Shri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,
Hon’ble Chief Minister,
Govt. of West Bengal,
Writers’ Building,
Kolkata- 799001
Subject: A SOS from a daughter of Tripura- Correction of DOB thereof
Respected Sir,
I would not have dared to write this letter but for the image that you have created as a dispenser of speedy justice.
2. My husband Shri Biswanath Bhattacharya, a Tripura Civil Service Grade -1 officer serving under Government of Tripura has been approaching the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) from 1965 to get corrected his date of birth (DoB)in the School Final (S, F.) Certificate vide certificate number 20362 In the certificate his date of birth has been recorded as 18 September 1949 instead of his correct date of birth which is 19 September 1950. He had also submitted copies of the extract of Admission Register from Dharmanagar Town Junior Basic School and B. B. Institution, Dharmanagar duly attested by the Headmaster concerned and countersigned by the Joint Director, Directorate of School Education, Government of Tripura. He had also submitted transfer certificates of two schools. In both of the transfer certificates the date of birth has been recorded as September 19, 1950.
3. The erroneous recording of his date of birth in the certificate of his S.F. Examination is supposedly due to clerical mistake done on the part of N. C. Institution, Sonamura, West Tripura, from where he appeared at the School Final Exam. But the School Authority admitted that it has lost all the relevant record prior to 1971 irrecoverably and therefore, could not help my husband at all. But they also admitted that he had approached the school number of times spanning decades for correction of the date of his birth in his School Final Certificate.
4. But the WBBSE without assigning any reason has rejected his prayer for correction of his DOB vide its letter No- 34/3 dated 01.02.2005.
5. My husband then moved the Government of Tripura. On perusal of the irrefutable documents, the Govt. of Tripura was convinced and wrote to the Secretary, WBBSE for review of its decision vide their letter dated April 2, 2007. My husband has also written to the WBBSE vide his recent letter dated April 10, 2007, and April 27, 2007, for reconsideration of their earlier decision.
6. Now, when my husband talked to the one of the officials of WBBSE that day, he was given to learn that WBBSE never corrects the DOB if the entry of DOB is same –both in Admit Card and the S.F /Higher Secondary certificate. That the WBBSE corrects the date of birth of applicant -even if the entry of date of birth is same both in the Admit Card and the Certificate -may be evidenced from the Admit Card and Certificate of Smt Bela Dey who appeared H. S. Examination from WBBSE in 1967. In the original H. S. certificate and in the Admit Card of Smt Dey, the DOB was recorded as 15th day of January 1948. The date of birth was corrected by the WBBSE as 10th day of August ,1951 on January 19, 2005, i.e., after 38 years. The copy of corrected Admit Card and corrected H. S Certificate has been made available to WBBSE vide letter dated April 27, 2007, of my husband. The case of Smt. Dey may not be the solitary one.
7. Now as per the age recorded in the service book based on the entry of age in the S.F. Certificate my husband shall have to retire on September 30, 2007, whereas he could have easily served more one year and contribute to the cause of the Govt. and the family as well.
8. I would humbly pray to you kindly to treat my letter as SOS and pass immediate instruction to the WBBSE to set right the long drawn mistake. We are running against time.
9. I am sure justice will be done to us!
Regards,
Sincerely yours,
(Mamata Bhattacharjee),
W/o Biswanath Bhattacharya,
East of Circuit House,
Kunjaban Colony, Agartala-799005
Mobile: + 91 98620 07838
Tel. No- (0381) 2327638
E-Mail: [email protected]
My family and I were subjected to a lot of totally unavoidable tension and time-wasting over the matter of getting my date of birth corrected. We had the papers to prove the correct date and there was nothing to justify rejection of our appeal. In truth, it does not reflect well on some people that we had to involve the Chief Ministers of two states in so trivial a matter, but on the positive side, the extraordinary swiftness of action of both Chief Ministers and their offices was an event that should go into the books of historical precedent.
Both Chief Ministers proved that the exalted nature of a man’s position means nothing if he is not willing to provide succour wherever and whenever he can, irrespective of how insignificant the issue may seem to be. What is insignificant to some can be of huge importance to others.
In spite of the general perception otherwise, humility and humanity are sterling characteristics that ennoble a man.
(Disclaimer: This is not to, anyway, demean an any officer in Personal & Administration Department, Government of Tripura)
