Former Punjab minister granted limited period bail

Chandigarh, Oct 17 (UNI) Former Punjab minister and Congress leader. Chaudhary Jagjit Singh was today granted limited period anticipatory bail for ten days by the Punjab and Haryana High Court here in the 32.5 acre Amritsar Improvement Trust lanmd scam case.

The case was registered against him and others, including former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh recently by the state Vigilance Bureau at Mohali on the basis of the report of the special committee of the Vidhan Sabha.

The report pertained to alleged irregularities and kickbacks in granting exemption to a piece of land of a builder from the residential scheme of the Improvement Trust on NH-I.

While granting the anticipatory bail , Justice M M S Bedi directed the petitioner to approach the lower court at Mohali within ten days for the bail. The petitioner was the Local Bodies minister when the exemption came to be granted.

The Vidhan Sabha report had held among others the former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh as guilty and consequently disqualified him from the state legislature membership, a matter now pending before the apex court.

It has been alleged by the petitioner that the case had been registered out of political vendetta let loose by the present Shiromani Akali Dal(Badal)-Bharatiya Janata Party regime headed by Parkash Singh Badal.

UNI XC HS VN1953