Bungling Of Jobbery, Foolishness And Inefficiency
- Published on July 25, 1908
- By Staff Reporter
- 518 Views
(Communicated.)
There are, to be sure, very many instances, in these days, of partialities of various kinds in the political atmosphere of Travancore. Examples of more persons than one reciprocally helping towards perpetration of undesirable things are also to be had to no small extent. But, When such things come up to be more than tolerable, they should not escape notice, especially in case the total interests of the public are considerably at risk. Here is an array of facts, which, if passed over, would certainly be far from creditable to all concerned. Mr. Hoogwerf, Assistant Superintendent of Police, recently took a short leave. Some think that this leave is a private and delicate arrangement between Mr.Hoogwerf and Mr. Gallyot, Inspector of Police, whereby a vacancy or rather room for the latter to get a lift to the post of Assistant Superintendent, could be created, thus giving Mr. Gallyot some remote ray of a claim to compete for the place of Assistant Superintendent even as a rival to Mr. Samuel, who is already acting as Assistant Superintendent. Of course, it is only some who think the leave to be a dodge; perhaps, they might be all those who have analysed into the affair; and their impression itself might not necessarily be quite correct. Even if the belief be nothing but the truth it is only a friendly trick calculated to harmlessly favour one, and does not fall within the scope of the main body of the subject in hand. The appointment of Mr. Samuel is, itself, a measure strongly criticised on the ground that it does not agree with the up-to-date principles regulating such appointments. Be that as if may, there is at least the consolation that he is a policeman of long experience. But, the selection of Mr. Gallyot is, in the light of all principles of appointment, simply too horrible to conceive. The Svadeshabhimany has in its issue of the 20th June last, more or less done justice to the subject by drawing a picture of Mr Gallyot in his true colour; and this piece might be a supplement there-to recording the disapprobation and protest of the people, although the don't care-ways of the appointing authorities are almost irremediable. It is needless to urge that a place, in the Sircar Directory, among the servants of the Police Department or the fact of being seen in the parade ground, or even the fact of copying or initialing a number of records of the Police Department, or all these do not fit one for Police work, nor is it treason to say that the undesirable occurrences and the want to safety of person and property, of which there is enough are due, almost entirely, to such choices and to such principles of choice in the making of appointments in the public service. Now, the most amusing part of the crux of the joke is the fact that every effort is being put forth to confirm Mr. Gallyot as Assistant Superintendent. The first to those exertions, very ingenuously devised, is to avoid the return of Mr. Hoogwerf to his post to relieve Mr. Gallyot till one or other place as Assistant Superintendent could any how be found. An extension of leave to Mr. Hoogwerf takes place; but, this is not enough; Mr. Gallyot has to be kept on long as Assistant Superintendent. The plan therefore hit upon is to depute Mr. Hoogwerf on special duty. There is nothing requiring special duty for an Assistant Superintendent. The problem is easily solved by the picking up of two cases, one of theft and another of murder, and the entrusting of them to Mr. Hoogwerf! Further, the Superintendent of Police wants an additional Assistant Superintendent ! Here facts are better advocates of themselves, especially because comments to any extent might fail to do full justice to the ridiculousness of the facts. If, however, a word be yet allowed, then the following is a brief annotation on the subject. Mr. Hoogwerf is not one credited with brilliant intelligence, high education, special training or any thing of the kind, nor has he proved, by acts, to be a noteworthy Policeman at least through long experience. He is therefore not the Policeman to be posted on special duty to detect hard cases. The two cases given to Mr. Hoogwerf and intended to constitute full time work for him are simply ordinary and do not necessitate any additional arrangement whatever. Any case claiming a public servant, especially one of the higher order, on special duty on account of it is, and must be, a case, in which the suffering party is a considerable portion of the population or an important personage whose healthy condition of mind has much to do with public weal and who contributes appreciably towards the existence of the Sircar. It is, and must be, also a case in which the loss, of any kind, is strikingly great and such as affects the public as a mass, But, most strangely, the two cases in question are, to say the least, typically insignificant and ordinary and have not called forth any concern of the public in particular. One is a case of a dead body of a poor cooly being found near the public road at Pattam in Trivandrum- a case, the like of, and more serious than, which are every day occurring in large numbers all over the country without entailing any deputation, as special duty, of even a Head Constable. As for the other, the theft case, it may with certainly be said that none under the sky feels aggrieved by it except perhaps, to a small degree, the goddess of justice and the owner of the stolen properties; for, the stolen properties belong to Fouzadari Commissioner Anantharama Iyer alias Saravana, the first of the inverted croesuses or Palace favourites on account of whose very existence this Land of Charity has been left to the mercy of the maxim Corruption Optims Pessima, and whose wealth is simply a specimen of what bribery, misappropriation, theft &c. &c., are capable of earning. Numerous in deed are the shockingly attrocious cases of theft, murder, dacoity and the like thrown away to eternal sleep under the canopy of non-detection in the crime registers kept at the Police Stations in Travancore; and none but God Almighty thinks of them. But, these two ridiculously common cases have a Policeman-nay Assistant Superintendent of Police posted on special duty for their sake, transparently to enhance the snugness of the billet - the big billet abused out to the only one and the worst Policeman in the Travancore force, as Mr. Gallyot himself must admit! How long Mr. Hoogwerf is to be on special duty no body knows1 A little bit of inquisitiveness to know what such a capital detective as Mr. Hoogwerf has been doing or has reward of one hundred of the rupees in the public treasury to any one detecting the murder case, the theft case having already been almost detected without much of the special deputy's services, as, if none else in the 'Police Force were qualified to perform the grand ceremony of signing a notice in the Government Gazette announcing the reward! Ah! An extraordinary bungling of jobbery, foolishness and inefficiency defaming the Police Force in Travancore !!!