The 'road' that needs to be built: Why allegations against Justice SN Dhingra are foolish

The road construction requested by Justice Dhingra will benefit more than four villages, apart from the children who will be taught at his trust’s school. The Justice SN Dhingra Commission — that was constituted to probe former Haryana Chief Minister BS Hooda’s alleged role in the illegal grants of licences to hundreds of private companies, including Robert Vadra’s firm skylight Hospitality , and real estate major DLF – had to submit its inquiry report to the Haryana government on 1 July. However, it has been granted an eight-week extension, till 31 August, after the commission asked for extra time to study additional evidence and documents that have come up before the panel. As reported by Firstpost, just a few hours before the submission of the inquiry report, an ugly attack was launched by congress senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and former Chief Minister BS Hooda against the Haryana government. [caption id=“attachment_2868970” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of retired Justice SN Dhingra. Getty Images.[/caption] Two of the allegations – of ‘political vendetta’ and questioning ’the legality of the commission’ on grounds that it was done without Cabinet approval – require rigorous political and constitutional debate; to understand the intent behind the third allegation, which has been used to question Justice SN Dhingra’s integrity, Firstpost hit the ‘road’, quite literally. Hooda has alleged that out-of-turn favours/benevolence were extended by the Haryana government towards a Gurugram (Gurgaon) based charitable trust, headed by retired Justice SN Dhingra, after he was appointed as the head of the Commission. It was alleged that Justice SN Dhingra made a request to the deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, to construct a paver-blocks road in place of a kachcha road, leading up to a school for underprivileged children. The school is run by a trust headed by Justice SN Dhingra. An amount of Rs 95.4 lakh was sanctioned for the construction of the road, out of which Rs 47.7 lakh has been released so far. Hitting the ‘Road’ Just ahead of the main city of Gurgaon – after crossing the Maruti Suzuki plant at Manesar, and driving for some 25 kilometres via Pataudi Road – you reach a railway crossing, near village Jauri Khurd, from where a newly constructed one-floor building is visible. A two kilometre-long patch leading up to a school, built in the middle of a lush green field, is surrounded by villages – namely Jauri Khurd, Jauri Dhani, Sampka and Jatuala. The school has been built by Justice Gopal Singh Public Charitable Trust, and Justice SN Dhingra is one of the seven trustees, and the chairman of the trust. It was for this school that Justice SN Dhingra wrote a letter to the deputy commissioner, Gurgaon, last December, and requested that a road be built to connect the surrounding villages. [caption id=“attachment_2886788” align=“aligncenter” width=“854”] The two-kilometer long patch of mud-road in the lead up to the school.[/caption] The school has four big halls/class rooms with attached toilets, a proper kitchen, and an office. While the school stands fully constructed, the road outside, dampens the hope. At least a two kilometre patch from all sides, leading to the school, is nothing more than a mud track; and in case of rain, it become impossible to walk on it, let alone driving a vehicle on it. Tilakraj Chawla, in-charge of the school, told Firstpost, that it will be a play/pre-nursery school that will enrol children below the age of three. “We wanted to ensure that before the children of the surrounding villages are enrolled in a regular school, they get some amount of education here. As there is no paved road connecting the school to surrounding villages, our trust requested the authorities to build a connecting road,” Chawla said. He added, “We held a survey to determine what people from the village felt about the school. We got a very enthusiastic response. Females of the village, that are engaged in sewing and other work, were very happy with the prospect of the school as it would allow them to work, while their children are taken care of, and also learn something.” On being asked about the problem of the lack of road-connectivity, Chawla said, “The school, as you can see, is ready. We intend to start the session from August, and from our side we are ready. But it can only start if the road is built.” Firstpost had previously contacted the block development officer (BDO) of Farukh Nagar, under whose jurisdiction these villages fall. Pradeep Ahalawat, BDO Faruk Nagar, till a few months ago, had told Firstpost that he was not aware of the issue and that he felt that the funds released for the construction of the road must have gone to some other agency. Following this, Firstpost contacted Birender Yadav, the current BDO of Faruk Nagar. He said that, “It comes under the executive engineer of Panchayat Raj, and only he can tell you about this.” Firstpost tried repeatedly to contact SK Gill, executive engineer, Panchayat Raj, Gurgaon. But he could not be contacted. Finally, Dev Arya, junior engineer, who is in charge of the project, explained to Firstpost why the construction had been delayed, and how the road construction will be beneficial for the people of more than just the four surrounding villages. “The construction will start in a week’s time. Road demarcation and other processes that need to be followed were going on and now the construction will start soon. The construction will start from Pataudi road, near Jauri Kala, Jauri Khurd villages, and will touch village Sampka and will go on till the Jataula railway crossing, which has some surrounding villages. So it will not just benefit the children going to the new school but also people of surrounding villages as they will get a proper road," said Arya. The lack of a proper road is something that people from all surrounding villages were lamenting upon. Kartar Singh, who lives near to the school, reflecting on the state of affairs said, “You can see the state of roads here. We have built pakka houses and have tried to get all facilities here. But then the roads are so bad that our children have to struggle to go to the nearby school.” Krishna Maharaj, Sarpanch, Jatuala village, took us to the government school in his village. The road connecting to the school was a mud track and due to heavy rain, it had turned into swampy piece of land. Children coming out of the school could be seen with their shoes and bags on their head, walking towards their homes. [caption id=“attachment_2886772” align=“alignleft” width=“854”] Students of the government school in Jatuala village have to walk through knee-deep muddy water to get home.[/caption] “This is the state of roads here. When they have not built proper roads for the existing schools, which most of our children attend, to expect that they will be building a new road for a new school so early is too much of an expectation,” said Maharaj. Babu Lal Sharma, resident of Jatuala village, while talking about the problem said, “In our villages around 80 percent of people are government employees. We all know about various government schemes. But for years we have not got proper roads here. You can see we have built our houses so well. But when someone visits our village, we feel ashamed.” After visiting the school site and the adjoining villages, talking to its people and to the junior engineer in charge of the project, it quickly became evident that the construction of the road will not only help the village children get access to good education, but that it will also connect the villages to the main Pataudi road in Gurgaon. In this context, the allegations made against Justice SN Dhingra are not only malicious and misplaced, but outright silly.