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Journalism of Courage
Senior bureaucrat L.V. Saptarishi replied to the show-cause notice issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, saying he had raised the issue of Chhapra elections in ‘‘national interest’’. Saptarishi had alleged that Election Commissioners B.B. Tandon and N. Gopalaswamy made casteist remarks.
Senior officials of the Department of Personnel and Training said they needed to examine his reply, but indicated that the government feels Saptarishi could have used established channels of redressal before making such grave allegations public.
Last week, the West Bengal cadre IAS officer had written to Union Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj saying that the two election commissioners had attempted to get the poll in Chhapra — where Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav contested from — countermanded and one of them had made casteist remarks against the Yadav community.
Saptarishi, who now heads CAPART, has argued that as an IAS officer he is also duty-bound to ‘‘protect’’ the Constitution. Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, under whose ministry CAPART comes, said today that Saptarishi has said he had written to the law minister and held a conference, ‘‘keeping the Constitution in view’’. Saptarishi’s three-page reply has been sent to Personnel Department, the minister said.
