Escapades of a PSU Executive - Rohila and her child.

Escapades of an idiotic PSU executive - I

This is a new series where an idiotic PSU executive will share his varied experiences of working in a global fortune 500 company. It may be noted that the series is imaginary and resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.

What happened when Rohila had a child.

Responding to an advertisement for allotment of a petrol pump under Defense (Women) category, Rohila applied for a Petrol Pump Dealership. Rohila being the wife of a soldier who died protecting the country’s border was found eligible.

Another woman by the name of Geetali also applied and became the second empanelled candidate. She too was eligible, being the wife of a dead soldier.

Both of them had the necessary documents and in due course of time Rohila became the first empanelled candidate and Geetali became the second empanelled candidate for the petrol pump dealership.

Before the LOI (Letter of Intent) could be issued, Geetali the second empanelled candidate filed a complaint that Rohila had remarried after the death of her soldier husband and was having a child when she filed her application for the petrol pump under Defence women category. As per Geetali, this marriage had made her ineligible for a petrol pump under defence women category.

The brilliant officers of Teliya Oil immediately formed a three-member committee to investigate the complaint and file a report in a time-bound manner.

Now, these three amateur Sherlock Holmes went to Rohila’s village and found a cute and healthy child playing in her courtyard. Rohila graciously welcomed them and introduced them to the father of her child who was working on some bamboo baskets in a corner of the courtyard. They came out after having tea and rice cakes.    

The three Sherlock Holmes then went to the village headman’s house where they were told that Rohila had a baby and the father stays with her and takes good care of her. In the village headman’s house, they also came to know that the baby’s father’s name is Rongmon and he is the younger brother of Rohila’s husband who was a soldier and died in a war.

The next stop for the three Sherlock Holmes was the civil hospital where they checked the birth records and were confirmed that Rohila gave birth to a bonny baby on a such and such date. The date was before Rohila had applied for the petrol pump dealership and hence they were not double but triply sure that she was not a widow on the date of filing her application for the petrol pump.  

They filed a 24-page report which also had 12 Annexes.

The brilliant officers of Teliya Oil were in a dilemma. They read the written policies and circulars again and again and still could not come to a conclusion. The officers of Teliya Oil were “Policy & Circular Freaks” and any situation which does not fall under a clear policy makes them confused and delirious with distress.

Luckily at that time both Rohila and Geetali filed a case in the lower court. Rohila challenged the action of Teliya Oil in not issuing her the LOI and the Geetali challenged Teliya Oil for not cancelling the candidature of Rohila.

The court case was a Godsend. The officers of Teliya Oil decided that since the matter is sub-judice hence no decision is called for as of now. That the court although admitting the case has not given any stay order in the LOI issuance process was conveniently overlooked.

As the court case proceeded a few years passed. One day an officer who was the Head of the Law Department of another state office made a visit to the office where the main story of Rohila and Geetali unfolded.

Now this law officer who was on tour was intelligent and hence the officers of Guwahati showed him the file and asked for his opinion. 

After reading the file for some time the touring Head of the law department started laughing and said, “You fools, who gave you these ideas? The very purpose of giving a petrol pump dealership to a widow of a soldier is to ensure that she can start life anew and become a valued member of the society. Marriage is her personal decision and the constitution of India does not bar any widow from marrying. Issue her the LOI immediately before you get a bloody nose in the court”.

He kept laughing and said, “You idiots will someday post an officer in front of her house so that no man can walk into her house or heart and join her in her bed”. He kept chuckling for a long time at the idiotic decision-making processes.

However, the brilliant officers kept quiet and did not issue the LOI.

The original court case now reached the High court. By then Rohila had given birth to three children fathered by Rongmon. In the High Court Rohila made a statement that although she had given birth to children fathered by Rongmon, she had not married him, so her affidavit was not false. On the other hand, Geetali’s lawyers said that even if Rohila had not married Rongmon but the fact that she had three children father by Rongmon makes her “deemed to have married Rongmon”.

After listening to all parties, the Honourable High Court gave the following opinion, “Matters pertaining to social norms and culture are beyond the purview of this court”. The High Court also dismissed the Writ Petitions.

The officers of Teliya Oil were still in a dilemma and did not issue her the LOI because there is no clear policy or circular to cover such cases. Moreover, the court order did not clearly spell out that the LOI should be issued to Rohila. So the stalemate continued.

Seeing the fanatical obsession for policies and circulars by the officers of Teliya Oil, the idiot officer will not be surprised if one fine day a few officers demand a written policy to make love to their wife.

The stalemate continues and quiet flows the Burha Luit.