Committee holds two former Vidhan Sabha officials guilty

Chandigarh, Dec 18 (UNI) In an unprecedented move, a committee of the Punjab assembly has recommended registeration of a criminal case against former Vidhan Sabha secretary Nachhattar Singh Mavi and under secretary Tara Singh for tampering with records of the proceedings of the 12th House (previous).

A report in this context based on the findings of an Empowerment Committee of the 13th House (present) was tabled on the second day of the winter session of the assembly here today.

The committee in its recommendations stated that a case under relevant clauses of the CrPC should be registered against Mr Mavi and Mr Tara Singh, both of whom had now retired, by the state Vigilance Bureau as they had tampered with the proceedings pertaining to supplementaries asked on the floor of the House in March last year in a land scam case involving about Rs 100 crore.

The supplementaries involved a starred question (No 1540) on March one last year by the then Congress MLA Bir Davinder Singh regarding exemption granted against acquisition of a vacant plot of land measuring 32 acres on the Amritsar-Jalandhar road by the Amritsar Improvement Trust.

The then Local Bodies Minister Choudhary Jagjit Singh was accused by the Opposition members in the House of embezzlement of over Rs 100 crores while granting this exemption to a private builder.

The then Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh while replying to the supplementaries had made a formal announcement that a committee of the members of the House would be constituted to inquire into the matter and requested the Speaker to constitute the committee. The Speaker later announced the constitution of the committee of the House.

The supplementaries were asked by SAD members Desraj Dhugga and Jagdeep Singh Nakai and Sukhpal Singh of the BJP who were then in the Oppsotion. A privilege motion on this issue was also moved by the then Opposition members Manpreet Singh Badal, Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Gobind Singh in the House in September last year.

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