Inquiry committee indicts three Chandigarh civic body employees

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, December 24

A inquiry committee, headed by a retired judge, has indicted three Municipal Corporation employees guilty and exonerated three others in the matter of short recovery of stamp duty from previous parking contractors.

The then parking branch superintendent, Monil Chauhan, senior assistant Kulbhushan and junior assistant Shakun Sharma have been found guilty by the inquiry panel led by Additional District and Sessions Judge BR Bansal (retd).

No fault was found on the part of then parking wing sub-divisional engineer (SDE) Jagdeep Singh, superintendent Sunil Dutt and senior assistant Pooja Kainth, said MC sources.

As per the further procedure, the officials concerned will be given copies of the inquiry findings and asked to file their replies, following which, the MC Commissioner has to take action against the erring officials. In April, the civic body had chargesheeted all these officials while marking the independent probe.

The matter relates to two previous parking contractors — Pashchatya Entertainment Private Limited and Ram Sundar Prasad Singh — who had paid less stamp duty.

The sources said in the tender, the registration of lease document was not made compulsory. It caused a delay in the registration of documents. While stamp duty for three years was to be recovered, it was charged for one year only. Thus, both procedural lapse and negligence were found on the part of the erring officials.

Draft chargesheet filed against ex-HCS officer

A draft chargesheet against the then parking branch in charge SK Jain, now retired Haryana Civil Services officer, has been filed and sent to the Haryana Government for starting action, said the MC sources.

Action against the officer has been taken for not doing “due diligence” in the matter. The MC had earlier asked the UT Administration to initiate action against Jain. The latter had sent the matter to the Haryana Government. After that the MC was asked to prepare the draft chargesheet which has now been sent to Haryana.

SDE Jagdeep, two others exonerated

No fault was found on part of then parking wing sub-divisional engineer (SDE) Jagdeep Singh, superintendent Sunil Dutt and senior assistant Pooja Kainth, said MC sources.

Erring officials

The then parking branch superintendent, Monil Chauhan, senior assistant Kulbhushan and junior assistant Shakun Sharma have been found guilty by the inquiry panel led by Additional District and Sessions Judge BR Bansal (retd).

The matter

In the tender, the registration of lease document was not made compulsory. While stamp duty for three years was to be recovered, it was charged for one year only. Thus, both procedural lapse and negligence were found on part of the erring officials.