Reinstatement of DDPO, three officials sparks row

Chandigarh, January 9

A major controversy erupted when suspended District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO), Gurdaspur, Harjinder Singh Sidhu, and three other officials were reinstated today. The move came within 15 days of their suspension for tampering with the reservation roster and wrongly categorising 38 villages in the Dinanagar block.

Apart from the DDPO, other officials suspended were Sukhwinder Singh, auditor; Baljeet Singh, panchayat secretary; and Manjeet Singh, computer operator. The officials had been placed under suspension by the Financial Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Panchayats and Rural Development Department, following a probe ordered by the Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur. The inquiry was conducted on the directions of the Chief Minister after Cabinet minister Aruna Chadhary raised the matter.

The CM directed one of his political secretaries to intervene. As a result, the posting orders are learnt to have been kept in abeyance. However, Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa said there was no anomaly in the reinstatement order.

The departmental probe had found that of the two draft notifications sent by the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, Dinanagar, the DDPO had tampered with one and changed the categorisation (reserved or general) of 38 villages. This step was contrary to the recommendations made by leaders of the ruling Congress. It had led to protests by villagers, who had alleged that the move had benefitted the Shiromani Akali Dal. — TNS