GST official’s colleague washes hands off Hindi ‘imposition’ letter sent to CBIC

T Sugumar, a Superintendent working in the Capacity Building and Hindi Cell of the Commissionerate of GST and Central Excise here, said on Tuesday that he had no objection to working in the section, maintaining that his senior had mentioned his name without consent in a letter alleging “Hindi imposition” on non-Hindi speakers. In a letter to the Commissioner of GST and Central Excise, Chennai Outer region, Sugumar said he had not complained to B Balamurugan, Assistant Commissioner, Capacity Building and Hindi cell, regarding the nature of his job.

In his letter, Sugumar referred to a letter written by Balamurugan on Monday to the CBIC Chairman alleging that all three officers – himself, Sugumar and Vijayakumar – in the Hindi cell were posted without their consent, and charged it as “Hindi imposition”. The Superintendent added that he had no knowledge of the letter but admitted having given the letterhead of the section to Balamurugan in a pen drive last week.

Sugumar added that he was only holding additional charge of the Official Language Section and that he had no issues regarding the works of the section. “There are Hindi-speaking officers – Ranjan Dhaiya, who has been relieved from the section only on Monday afternoon, and an assistant who works in the section – and we have no issues regarding works or reports regarding Hindi,” Sugumar said in the letter.