|
Badal chum Speaker of Punjab
Assembly took bribes, says CBI
But Akali
govt refuses to permit prosecution of Nirmal Singh Kahlon in a court
WSN Network
 CHANDIGARH:
In a scathing revelation, Punjab CM Prakash Singh badal's much
tattered image received a further jolt when media reports exposed
how the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has indicted his
hand-picked choice for Punjab Assembly Speaker and a close
associate, Nirmal Singh Kahlon, in a "cash-for-job scandal" that
took place between 1996 and 2001.
The CBI, after a
long drawn investigation into the illegalities and irregularities
involved in the selection of 909 panchayat secretaries during
Kahlon's tenure as rural development and panchayat minister during
the said period, deduced that Kahlon and two IAS officers were among
15 people guilty of wrong doing.
In its 54-page
damning report, the sleuths nailed Kahlon, IAS officers Mandeep
Singh (then director of rural development and panchayat department)
and J.S. Kesar (then financial commissioner, rural development, and
since retired) -- by establishing that the "selection was made
against payments". Kahlon could have got 50 per cent of the "at
least" Rs 4 crore collected in bribes by department officials
responsible for the selection process, the CBI said.
However, nine
months after the CBI wrote to the Punjab government (vide letter No.
728/3/8(S)/2003/SCR III/ND, dated March 3, 2009) seeking sanction to
prosecute Kahlon for corruption charges, the SADBJP dispensation is
yet to take a final decision on the issue. As a result, the CBI's
move to file a chargesheet in the Special Court at Patiala has not
fructified. Now, it seems the Punjab Government has decided not to
accord sanction but critics said it will only further blacken the
face of the government.
|
Nirmal
Singh Kahlon could have got 50 per cent of the Rs 4 crore
collected in bribes by department officials responsible for the
selection process. |
|
The Hindustan
Times which first reported the matter on its front page in its
Chandigarh edition last week, quoted the report as saying that
"Sufficient evidence is there to show the commission of offences on
the part of Mr Kahlon and others punishable under Sections 120-B
(criminal conspiracy), 468, 471 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and
the Prevention of Corruption Act."
The CBI later
confirmed that it has indeed asked for prosecution sanctions in
respect of Nirmal Singh Kahlon but Kahlon has remained mum and
offered a lame defence saying "only the government would know about
it."
The scandal
relates to the recruitment of 909 panchayat secretaries during the
previous tenure of the SAD-BJP Government (1996-2001) by the
Department of Rural Development and Panchayats. The Punjab and
Haryana High Court had, in 2003, ordered a CBI inquiry into the
scam.
The case was
registered on a complaint from the director, rural development and
panchayats, to the CBI director. It was alleged that Kahlon along
with chairmen and members of the four selection committees forged
records related to the selections and indulged in corruption in the
selection process, causing undue favour to certain candidates by
abusing their official positions.
The CBI inquiry
draws substantially upon revelations made by Joginder Singh, then
deputy director and also chairman of one of the section committees,
who turned whistleblower-approver in the case. In his confessional
statement recorded under Section 164 of Cr.PC before a magistrate,
he said Kahlon had issued instructions to all chairmen (of selection
panels) that "only those candidates are to be selected by them whose
numbers would be conveyed by his (minister's) private secretary
Vikas Sharma and Mandeep Singh".
Though the CBI
has pointed out as many as 15 irregularities in the selection
process, it found that chairmen of selection panels collected money
ranging from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh from reserved category
candidates and between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh from general
candidates, depending on their paying capacity.
16
December 2009
|
Read Also