Panel that gave clean chit to Sadhu Singh Dharamsot in scholarship scam under lens

Tribune News Service

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, July 15

The role of a three-member committee that gave a clean chit to former Social Welfare Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot in the alleged misappropriation of scholarship funds during the previous Capt Amarinder Singh government has come under the scanner.

Two days ago, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had announced an inquiry into irregularities in the post-matric scholarship scheme that surfaced during the tenure of the Congress government, signalling possible action against Dharamsot. The former minister is currently in judicial custody following his arrest by the Vigilance Bureau in a corruption case related to the illegal felling of trees and other illegalities during his tenure as the Forest Minister.

On the directions of Capt Amarinder Singh, the three-member probe panel of bureaucrats was constituted by a former Chief Secretary after a former Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Social Welfare, in his report, submitted on August 24, 2020, questioned the role of Dharamsot in the alleged misappropriation of scholarship funds. The ACS, in his report, had also been accused of shielding officials, including a Deputy Director, involved in the scam.

The probe panel, in its report submitted in October 2020, had pointed out that nothing substantial was found regarding the minister’s alleged interference in the disbursal of scholarship funds and transfer of Rs 39 crore into “ghost accounts”. The probe panel had detected wrong payment of over Rs 7 crore to private educational institutions. Erring officials in the department, instead of getting a re-audit done from departments concerned, conducted it on their own, in violation of the rules. The role of a former Director, Social Welfare, who allowed the re-audit, had not been questioned by the probe panel.

The probe panel had left out some glaring anomalies that pointed to a larger scam in the disbursal of funds.

In his report submitted on August 24, the former ACS, who was recently transferred out of the department, had pointed towards a scam of Rs 55 crore. Of the amount, the department disbursed Rs 39 crore to “ghost” institutions as its records were missing. Another Rs 16.71 crore was wrongly disbursed to private educational institutions despite the Finance Department pointing out recovery of Rs 8 crore from the institutions which had been illegally given the scholarship.

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