Punjab Cabinet authorises Capt Amarinder Singh to approve new excise policy

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 11

The Punjab Council of Ministers today authorised CM Capt Amarinder Singh to approve the new excise policy, telling him they would not attend any meeting where Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh was also present. The Chief Secretary today stayed away from the Cabinet meeting, opting for half-day leave.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal is learnt to have told the CM that it was up to him to “restore his dignity”.

As soon as the meeting began, Manpreet and Charanjit Singh Channi requested that their displeasure over the Chief Secretary’s behaviour be placed on record. Subsequently, the CM asked the ministers to bring it on record that they had no faith in the Chief Secretary. The officer, who is to retire in August, is likely to be asked to proceed on leave, said sources in the government.

Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa pointed out that the son of a top bureaucrat had stakes in the liquor business. After the ministers had registered their protest, the CM is learnt to have told them that walking out of a meeting on excise policy two days ago was not correct. They were told that they should have told the Chief Secretary to leave after the face-off instead of walking out themselves.

“As part of unofficial business, I moved a proposal that I would not attend any meeting where the CS was present. I was supported by my colleague Charanjit Channi. After the entire Cabinet backed us, we were told by the CM to put our objection on record,” Manpreet explained after the meeting, adding that the decision had been taken not because of ego clash, but in the “ highest interest of the state”.

Liquor vend owners in Punjab are seeking extension of their licences, saying they are badly hit by the lockdown. Some of them are also against the Punjab Government’s plan on doorstep delivery of liquor.

Meanwhile, in a series of tweets, Gidderbaha MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring questioned the Chief Secretary regarding “the involvement of his son in running a distillery in Kapurthala as a partner with a top liquor contractor”.

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