5-member panel to probe official-councillor ‘nexus’

Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 22

Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has constituted a five-member committee to probe into the alleged nexus between officials and councillors. Complaints regarding exploitation of owners of commercial buildings after issuing them notices for building bylaws violations have come to the fore.

Taking cognisance of a report published in these columns on January 21, exposing the official-councillor nexus in clearing violations, Sidhu called a meeting of department officials today and marked the probe. It is learnt that notices were sent to the violators and then a deal was struck with them, allowing them to continue with the illegal constructions.

Talking to The Tribune, Sidhu said: “We have constituted a five-member committee to look into the issue. The panel will report the names of the officials and councillors within a month.”

The minister said: “We are not divulging the names of the committee members in order to maintain secrecy. A special helpline number and an email ID will be announced within a week. Anyone with a complaint against any official or a councillor seeking illegal gratification can approach us. All complaints will be disposed of with an action taken report at the earliest.”

A senior official said: “The catch here is that these notices were issued by the building branch of the MC. Without mentioning any reason, these were withdrawn after the alleged acceptance of a bribe, which was against the official procedure to handle a departmental notice. Replies to the notices are filed, if at all, only after ascribing official reasons. I think besides getting to the persons behind the scam, we need to look into the missing links in the procedure of notices and action, if any.”