Retired Town Planning officials to move court

AMRITSAR: Reacting to the decision of the Local Bodies Department, in which Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has dismissed Senior Town Planner (STP) and imposed a penalty on pensions of officials, the retried STP, MTP and ATPs have decided to move court against the decision.

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 24

Reacting to the decision of the Local Bodies Department, in which Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has dismissed Senior Town Planner (STP) and imposed a penalty on pensions of officials, the retried STP, MTP and ATPs have decided to move court against the decision.

Retired STP Shakti Sagar Bhatia, MTP Des Raj, ATPs Suresh Raj, Surjit Singh, Manohar Singh Bhatti and Ramesh Kumar addressed a press conference today and alleged that the decision is politically motivated and unjustified. The retired officials claimed that the department had already imposed a penalty in June 2015 equivalent to 10 per cent of their pension.

Retired STP Shakti Sagar Bhatia said, “Violation of building bylaws is still going on in the walled city and around Golden Temple. Who is responsible for this — the minister or the officials? Following the inquiry by a retired judge, they have charge-sheeted 33 persons. Now with political interference, punishments to others have been exempted. Moreover, deferred penalties have been imposed in the same offence. We will challenge the decision in court”.

The Department of Local Bodies has dismissed STP Hemant Batra, demoted ATPs Banke Bihari and Rajinder Sharma and building inspector Harjinder Singh one rank below their present post and penalty equivalent to 50 per cent pension for three years has been imposed on retired STP Shakti Sagar Bhatia, MTP Des Raj, ATPs Surjit Singh, Ramesh Chandra, Suresh Raj and Manohar Singh Bhatti and building inspector Michel yesterday.

There were 33 officials, who dealt with issues regarding the ‘galiara’ project who were charge-sheeted for dereliction of duty and violation of the Municipal Corporation Act and Rules. Inquiry officer, former Additional District Judge BC Gupta, had submitted his report in January 2016.

Advocate Sarbajit Singh Verka had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2010 against the illegal construction of hotels around Golden Temple. On the directions of the court, an SIT was constituted in 2012 which found that 125 buildings around Golden Temple were constructed illegally.