Punjab’s elite-60 under HC lens
Jaideep Sarin
Chandigarh: The makers and custodians of policy and rules in Punjab have also turned out to be the biggest violators. The greed of acquiring prime land in the periphery of Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, has brought powerful politicians, police officers, bureaucrats and influential people under the scanner of the Punjab and Haryana High Court here.
Virtually hearing the case on a day-to-day basis, the high court has set up a two-man judicial tribunal to look into irregularities and violations committed by Punjab’s powerful elite in grabbing prime land in Punjab in the vicinity of Chandigarh’s VIP areas. The land, said to be worth several millions of rupees in the market, is in the Kansal and Nayagaon village area north of Chandigarh. The area falls in Punjab’s territory.
The list of what is known as the elite-60 includes the likes of Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, his son and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, police chief Sumedh Singh Saini, serving and retired top bureaucrats and police officers and other influential people. The list includes two former police chiefs and a chief secretary.
The High Court wants a thorough investigation into the misuse of power by the elite-60 in getting ‘shamlata’ (public land) converted into private land and then getting it transferred in their or in benami names. The High Court has already pointed out that the “land grabbings” had been done by the influential lot by “fudging the land records”.
The judicial tribunal will be headed by former Supreme Court judge Kuldeep Singh and will be assisted by a senior judicial officer, the High Court has stated. A high court bench consisting of Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Alok Singh rejected the plea of Punjab Advocate General Ashok Aggarwal that the Punjab government was already probing the land purchases made by influential people.
Category: India
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