Panchayat dissolution file bore Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann's sign too

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, September 1

The orders for dissolution of panchayats and appointing administrators for taking over the records of the panchayats were also signed by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Rural Development Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, besides the two IAS officers who were placed under suspension yesterday.

The controversy

• An unspent amount of Rs 857.95 cr with rural bodies — zila parishads (Rs 66.13 cr), panchayat samitis (Rs 172.78 cr) & gram panchayats (Rs 619.04 cr) — is behind the row
• Opposition says the government had announced the elections to ensure that administrators appointed by it could use these funds to benefit the ruling party

While the CM’s signatures on the file mention the date as August 9, the Rural Development Minister signed the file twice on August 7 and 9.

As a copy of the orders came out in public domain today, the Opposition gunned for the CM and his Cabinet Minister, asking why action had only been initiated against the officers, even as the ruling party questioned “the need for Opposition clamour, when rules of business in government were clear that all important files had to be cleared by the CM and the minister”. An inquiry against the two IAS officers, DK Tiwari and Gurpreet Singh Khaira, is likely to be initiated after the CM’s return from Mumbai tonight. Sources say an inquiry into the leaking of the government file carrying the signatures of the CM and minister Bhullar is also being conducted. “The CM and the minister only approved what the officers had put on the file. They were not informed by the officers that the due processes before the declaration of the elections and dissolution of the panchayats were not followed. Thus, the government had to face an embarrassment in the court. As soon as the CM was apprised of this, he ordered the withdrawal of the notification. How can they be held responsible for the actions of these officers?” said a spokesperson for the CM’s Office.

The government had yesterday placed under suspension Financial Commissioner (Rural Development and Panchayat) DK Tiwari and Director (Panchayat) Gurpreet Singh Khaira.

They were placed under suspension on the orders of Chief Secretary Anurag Verma when the government had to face an embarrassment in the Punjab and Haryana High Court after panchayats moved the court saying that the dissolution was ordered before their term had ended. The government had to take a U-turn in the court yesterday, saying it would withdraw the notification. While the former had signed the file on August 4, Khaira had signed it on August 3. Tiwari, meanwhile, is learnt to be in Denmark to attend a seminar and is headed back on Sunday.

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#Bhagwant Mann #Laljit Singh Bhullar