GMADA ex-Chief Engineer guilty of cheating, forgery

Tribune News Service

Gaurav Kanthwal

Mohali, November 24

A special court here today sentenced former Punjab Mandi Board Superintending Engineer and retired GMADA Chief Engineer Surinderpal Singh, also known as Pehelwan, to seven years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) in a case of cheating and forgery.

A fine of Rs 20,000 has also been imposed on the convict. He was convicted of forging his matriculation certificate on the basis of which he was employed as a junior engineer in the Punjab Mandi Board in 1992.

After being promoted to the post of Superintending Engineer, the Punjab Government had appointed him on deputation as the Chief Engineer, GMADA, in view of his excellent service record.

The court observed that the forged duplicate matriculation certificate and the fabricated official gazette result of matriculation in 1984 enhanced the retirement age of the accused, a Sector 27 resident and a native of Mulianwali village in Fazilka, by four years as his date of birth had been changed from December 11, 1967, to December 11, 1971.

The prosecution contended that, “The fabricated date of birth certificate of the accused shows that he was aged merely 12 in the year 1984 when he had passed his matriculation examination, which is highly improbable and rather impossible...and had got admission in class 1 at the age of just two years...”

The counsel for the accused stated that he had been falsely implicated in the case, which was registered in June 2017, on account of political vendetta following the change of government. The complainant in the case is Ashish Kapoor, the then AIG, Vigilance Bureau, who had allegedly acted at the behest of the political powers.

Rajpura resident Labh Singh (80), assistant secretary (retired), Punjab School Education Board, Mohali, who was also convicted in the case, was sentenced seven years of RI and Rs 20,000 fine was imposed on him. The court proceedings against Sector 46 resident KK Bhandari, Superintendent (retired), PSEB, were abated since he had died.

“The accused Surinderpal Singh and Labh Singh are hereby held guilty for the offences under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 201, all read with Section 120-B of the IPC and Section 13(1) (d) punishable under Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, all read with Section 120-B of the IPC,” the order read.

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