Notice to Punjab on appointment of Harpreet Singh Brar as technical adviser

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, August 17

The appointment of Harpreet Singh Brar as a technical adviser to the Punjab. 

State Agriculture Marketing Board (Punjab Mandi Board) today came under judicial scanner, with the Punjab and Haryana High Court issuing a notice of motion on a petition filed in public interest challenging the same.

Taking up the PIL filed by Pritam Singh Korey of Ludhiana, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli issued notice to the state, Punjab Mandi Board and Brar.

Appearing before the Bench on the petitioner’s behalf, counsel HC Arora argued that Brar retired on July 31 as an engineer-in-chief with the Punjab Mandi Board. Just a few days before his retirement, the Vigilance Bureau registered a vigilance inquiry against Brar on the allegation of acquiring assets disproportionate to his known income. But the proposal to appoint him as a technical adviser was approved by overlooking the Vigilance inquiry against him.

Arora added there was no post of technical adviser to the Punjab State Agriculture Marketing Board (Group A) Service Rules, 1988. Likewise, such a post was not provided for in the Act under which the Punjab Mandi Board was established.