Punjab VB starts fresh probe into industrial plot allotment

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, November 22

Fresh trouble is brewing for officials of Punjab Small Industries and Exports Corporation (PSIEC) in the alleged multi-crore scam related to the allotment of industrial plots with the Punjab Vigilance Bureau initiating a probe.

A year after being denied permission to investigate during the previous Congress government, the VB, with the change of guard, has started a fresh probe into the matter and sought record from the corporation.

After initial refusal and subsequent intervention by Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua, the corporation is in the process of handing over the allotment record of the industrial plots sought by the VB, it is learnt. “Initially, the record of wrong allotment of plots in Mohali have been sought, before seeking record of other estates,” said sources in the government.

It is suspected that changes were made with regard to the date of allotments, beneficiaries, record and bifurcation of plots, causing loss to the state ex-chequer. The probe holds significance in the backdrop of the arrest of former Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora and a probe into the alleged wrong-doing during the previous Congress government.

In June last year, the VB, on the basis of its inquiry in 2018 and fresh facts about more such industrial plots, had sought permission of the government to file a case against six officials for the alleged wrong allotment of plots to their kin and acquaintances in different industrial estates.

However, a three-member committee of senior IAS officers constituted in 2019 to examine the allegations against the officers on the basis of the VB inquiry of 2018, concluded that the allegation against the officers were unfounded and not sustainable in the eyes of law. It was also pointed that the three-member committee report had been accepted by the Chief Minister.

In a communication to the VB in October, a senior functionary of the PSIEC, while denying permission to the VB to investigate the charges, said two detailed inquiries had been conducted at the level of the government and the PSIEC, the charges levelled by the VB against the officers had not been proved and remain unfounded. The PSIEC had closed the matter.

Notably, during the previous Congress government, Finance Minister Harpal Cheema, who was then the Leader of Opposition, had sought a CBI probe into the report submitted by the three-member committee.

Loss to exchequer suspected

• It is suspected that changes were made with regard to the date of allotments, beneficiaries, record and bifurcation of plots, causing loss to the state exchequer
• The probe holds significance in the backdrop of the arrest of former Industries Minister Sunder Sham Arora and a probe into the alleged wrong-doings during the previous Congress government