Govt grants prosecution nod against seven in PMS scam

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 14

The Haryana Government has granted prosecution sanction against seven officials of the Department of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes. They are alleged to be involved in the multi-crore Post Matric Scholarship (PMS) scam.

The officials included Deputy Director Anil Kumar, now suspended; former deputy director Rajendar Singh Sangwan, now retired; Hisar’s former District Welfare Officer Balwan Singh, now retired; Bhiwani’s former District Welfare Officer Vinod Kumar Chawla, presently posted in Panchkula; Bhiwani’s former District Welfare Officer Suresh Kumar, presently posted in Narnaul; Assistant Bilendar Singh, presently suspended; and former accountant-cum-clerk in District Welfare Office of Sonepat Surinder Kumar, presently suspended.

IAS officer Sanjiv Verma had exposed the fraud going on in the department. He had even threatened to sit on dharna against the Chandigarh Police when they were not registering an FIR.

The Tribune broke the story on the PMS scam on April 6 and the Chief Minister had ordered a Vigilance probe on June 1. So far, four FIRs have been registered. The quantum of scam has reached over Rs 30 crore and it is still expanding.