Punjab Vigilance Bureau awaits prosecution nod in over 100 cases of graft

Tribune News Service

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, November 1

Over 100 Vigilance cases registered under Sections 17 and 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act are awaiting prosecution sanction with different government departments.

Yes to Cases against Dharamsot, Gilzian

• The CM had approved prosecution sanction against the guilty forest officials and two former Forest Ministers Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Sangat Singh Glizian
• In June, the Vigilance Bureau had registered two FIRs against forest officials and the two ministers
• Dharamsot was the Forest Minister in the Capt Amarinder Singh govt, while Gilzian was at the helm of forest affairs in the Charanjit Singh Channi govt

Retd Patwari arrested for graft

Sangrur: The Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday arrested patwari Harbans Singh (now retired), who was earlier posted at Lehragaga revenue halqa, for accepting a bribe of Rs 13,000. A VB spokesperson said Harbans Singh was arrested on the complaint of Rajinder Singh of Lehragaga. He said the complainant had approached the VB, claiming that the patwari had taken Rs 13,000 from him for registration of ‘intqal’ of a plot of his family.

One of these is the high-profile case of the Excise Department, in which the Vigilance Bureau (VB) had claimed to have busted a statewide tax evasion nexus of government officials of the Excise and Tax Department, in connivance with transporters.

Six officials were arrested in the case for causing a loss to the tune of Rs 100 crore to the state exchequer by letting go goods carriers without paying taxes. The VB has been awaiting sanction against 17 excise and taxation officials for two years.

Sources in the government said in the case related to the Punjab Small Industrial and Export Corporation (PSIEC), a section of bureaucrats had expressed reservations over giving prosecution sanction to the Vigilance Bureau against corporation officials.

In a fresh probe into the wrongdoings in the corporation, the names of same set of officials have cropped up.

The Vigilance is learnt to have sought records of the case from the PSIEC, including a purported letter by former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh in 2019 to constitute a committee to look into the findings of the VB probe and action taken by the Industries Department.

The Vigilance is also awaiting prosecution sanction from 40 departments.

A senior government functionary said the delay in prosecution sanction was not only legally untenable, but will also puncture the AAP’s political narrative on corruption.

In a recent SC order, it has been held that the four-month statutory provision for granting sanction to prosecute government officials in criminal cases was “mandatory”, and the delay in prosecuting the corrupt “breeds a culture of impunity” and leads to “systemic resignation” to corruption in public life.

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