Haryana Deputy CM gives clean chit to excise officials

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, August 7

A day after Home Minister Anil Vij recommended action on the basis of the report by the Special Enquiry Team (SET), Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, who holds the Excise and Taxation portfolio, gave a clean chit to his officers, saying he did not agree with certain findings.

“I do not agree with certain findings. The SET has wrongly reported that closure of vends was not ordered during the lockdown. I was present through video-conferencing on the evening of March 26, when all District Excise and Taxation Commissioners were told to ensure closure of vends. By 11 am on March 27, I had compliance reports from all 22 districts, saying vends had been shut,” he said.

Giving a clean chit to Excise and Taxation Commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi, indicted by the SET, Dushyant said the officer did not do anything wrong. He said the imputation against him for failing to arrange the SET visit to NV Distillery in Rajpura was incorrect as the Punjab Excise Act did not have a provision for this.

Abhay dismisses report by SET

INLD leader Abhay Chautala on Friday dismissed the report on the liquor scam, saying the government was trying to mislead the people. In a statement, he alleged that the SET seemed to be protecting the mastermind. Handing over the investigation to the State Vigilance Bureau and indictment of an IAS and an IPS officer was a formality, he alleged. TNS