Show-cause notice to Mohali Mayor for 'conflict of interest'

Mohali, September 16

The Principal Secretary, Local Government, has issued a show-cause notice to Mohali Municipal Corporation Mayor and F&CC chairman Amarjit Singh Jeeti Sidhu over charges of conflict of interest in the allotment of development works.

Copy not received yet, May move court

I have not received a copy of the notice. If necessary, I will move court against the government. Amarjit Singh Jeeti Sidhu, Mohali Mayor

The notice has been served on a complaint regarding irregularities in the allotment of works to Amritpreet Cooperative L/C Society Limited, Mohali, of which Sidhu is allegedly a member. Sidhu has been given 15 day to reply to the charges, failing which “one-sided proceedings” will begin.

In the notice sent by the Local Government Department, it is stated the Mayor, while being the chairman of MC’s Finance and Contract Committee, has violated Sections 63 and 36 (1) of the Punjab Municipal Act by issuing tenders for development works to the society.

Section 36 (1) provides for removal of a councillor from office in case of violation of Section 63. Reacting to the development, Jeeti Sidhu said he had not received a copy of the notice. “If necessary, I will move court against the government,” he said.

On August 11, six AAP councillors and two former councillors had written to the Additional Chief Secretary, Local Government, complaining about a conflict of interest with respect to the Mayor and F&CC chairman, who is also a member of a society that had been awarded development works.

In the complaint, it was stated Sidhu, as Mayor and F&CC chairman, “is allotting work to Amritpreet Cooperative L/C Society Limited, in which he himself is a member and beneficiary… while exercising the functions of a Mayor, is, in fact, allotting public works at the cost of the public exchequer to his own society in order to fraudulently mint money from the Municipal Corporation.”

In the past one year, the society has been issued work orders worth lakhs related to paver blocks, tiles, kerbs, channels, parks and footpaths in separate wards. “The payment has already been made,” it is alleged.

The society, headed by Karnail Singh, was registered on December 29, 2009, while Sidhu was elected Mayor on April 12, 2021. On June 4, Amarjit Sidhu and his brother, former Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu had left the Congress to join the BJP.

Earlier, the Congress had 37 councillors in the MC House of 50, while AAP had 11 and two were Independents.

After the switchover, Sidhu bagged the Mayor’s post. Since then, Mohali MLA Kulwant Singh and Congress men have been trying to dethrone Sidhu. The BJP leader is clinging on to the post on the basis of support from Congress councillors.

‘Allotted’ works to own mohali society

• Sidhu, who was elected Mayor on April 12, 2021, is accused of allotting public works to society, of which he is a member
• Amritpreet Cooperative L/C Society Limited, Mohali, was registered on Dec 29, 2009 & is headed by Karnail Singh

Councillors’ plaint to Addl Chief Secy

6 AAP councillors and 2 ex-councillors, in a plaint to Addl Chief Secretary, Local Government, claimed the Mayor and F&CC chairman in one year gave work orders worth lakhs related to paver blocks, tiles, kerbs, channels, parks and footpaths to the society