7 out of 11 ministers face criminal cases in Bhagwant Mann's cabinet

New Delhi, Mar 21: The newly-sworn Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and six ministers in his cabinet have criminal cases filed against them, poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms said on Monday.

Among the 11 members who took oath recently, seven ministers including Chief Minister have declared criminal cases against themselves out of which four are facing serious criminal cases.

Also, nine among the 11 ministers are crorepatis and the average of their assets is Rs 2.87 crore. Bram Shanker, who won the election from Jimpa, is the minister with the highest declared total assets. He has assets worth Rs 8.56 crore. Whereas Lal Chand from Bhoa (Sc) constituency has the lowest declared total assets worth Rs 6.19 lakh.

Nine ministers have declared liabilities. The minister with the highest liabilities is Bram Shanker, He has liabilities worth Rs 1.08 crore. The ADR said five ministers (45 per cent) have declared their educational qualification to be between Class 10 and 12 while the rest are graduates or above.

Six ministers (55 per cent) have declared their age to be between 31 and 50 years while five (45 per cent) are aged 51 and 60, the ADR said.

Bhagwant Mann had taken oath at a programme in Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, on March 10. Ten AAP MLAs were sworn in as Punjab ministers on Saturday. They are Harpal Singh Cheema, Harbhajan Singh, Dr Vijay Singla, Lal Chand, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Laljit Singh Bhullar, Bram Shanker Jimpa, Harjot Singh Bains and Dr Baljit Kaur.