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Not that I nurture any grudge but some painful memories never fade away!
Character certificate is a delicate issue. In our filed postings, often we used to get requests to issue character certificates of strangers which were required by the applicants for jobs. It was always a tricky situation. Refusal would lead to rejection of such prayers. As a public servant, it was against our ethics to cause distress to job seekers. On the other hand, in a terrorist infected trouble prone state, it could be very risky to issue such character certificates without proper verification. There was a time when we could not locate any specific guidelines clarifying procedures for issuing such certificate. So we had to handle it by applying common sense. We asked the applicant to get a certificate from the Principal or head of the educational institution attended last by the applicant. Based on that certificate we used to countersign or issue a fresh one. Gradually, we found specific directions for police verification for certain category of such certificate. All that I learned was character certificate is a delicate area and it is very crucial for the one who needs it. It may make or mar a person’s career.
During my time as a student, I had to apply for such document on several occasions and I feel happy that every time I received very generous certificates about my character and conduct. However, one such certificate would remain a painful memory until my last breath.
After ten years of field postings in several far-flung areas of the state, we suddenly received orders of transfers. That was some eleven years ago when both my husband and I were posted in a far-flung, outlying subdivision. The district headquarter was 133 kilometres away and it was a sleepy hamlet where the subdivision was created a few years ago. We had two infants to take care of and a critically sick mother, seven hours away from that place. Life was challenging. Most officers in that subdivision had their families in the state capital and so they were away every weekend. We two were the only ones available during weekends or holidays at the district headquarter. Our trips were restricted to emergency situations for ailing parents or when the kids were sick. The only reliable doctor in the small hamlet was a general physician, who attended all categories of patients. Life was good in that green land with pristine pure air.
All of a sudden, we husband and wife received transfer orders at two different locations. My husband was transferred to a further interior place, while I was made an election officer in the neighbouring subdivision which was under the same district. Elections were due in a few months and as per official norms officers serving for more than three years in a district are transferred to another district before elections. So we understood that joining the new posting would lead to another transfer within a few months.
There were many officers who never saw the state beyond the boundary of the state capital yet officers like us were serving sincerely in an outlying subdivision were sent off to two far away locations. We came down to submit a representation narrating our issues. However, the responsible seniors refused to even give a hearing not to speak of sympathetic consideration. The local MLA of our place of posting was a cabinet rank minister, who treated officers working in his constituency very respectfully. He came to know about our crisis and we came to know he had given a note to place us in his department. Accordingly, our vindictive transfers to two different locations got cancelled after serving in far-flung areas for more than a decade. We both got new transfer orders in two different wings of a huge department. This raised many eyebrows as we were unknown officers working in interior locations till that time.
I do not know what the man sitting on his high horse with faulty ears to form a judgement based on inputs from third rated people now think of us. Often we cannot access influential people sitting in important posts but who are their advisors or favourites give an inkling of how they operate. This man’s most trusted counsel was an officer, who was a senior in my college. This confused man’s claim to greatness was that his father was also a bureaucrat of disrepute. As people graduate to higher ranks, they should have an obligation to be fair to all. This man in the high post will never perhaps even realise what pity I feel for his obnoxious behaviour. No matter where he reaches he will never be able to command our respect.
I have every reason to believe that my character certificate stands invalid if it’s allowed to be examined by a neutral third party. The man who tried to intimidate could never really scare me. Life moves on.
This bitter incident gave a precious lesson to be very careful, while issuing a character certificate, no matter how humble the applicant appears to be.
©Hemashri Hazarika
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