Latest news with #PunjabCivilServices(PunishmentandAppeal)Rules
The Print
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Print
Punjab govt suspends Vigilance SSP for summoning Cong Ludhiana West candidate as ‘favour'
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Punjab minister Tarunpreet Singh Sondh, while speaking to reporters in Ludhiana, alleged that a 'conspiracy orchestrated by Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu to gain political sympathy ahead of the Ludhiana West byelection has been exposed'. The bypoll to Ludhiana West assembly seat will take place on June 19 and the counting will be held on June 23. The seat fell vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January. Chandigarh, Jun 6 (PTI) The Punjab government on Friday placed under suspension Ludhiana Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vigilance Jagatpreet Singh with a minister claiming that the officer issued summons to the Congress candidate who is contesting the Ludhiana West bypoll to 'favour' him. Sondh alleged that a vigilance notice to Ashu 'was part of a deceitful ploy devised by Ashu himself. Upon investigation, it was uncovered that the Vigilance SSP who issued the notice was a former classmate and close friend of Ashu'. Notably, the Vigilance had Thursday summoned Ashu in connection with an alleged school land misuse case in Ludhiana, in which allegations pertain to cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery. Punjab's Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Home Affairs, Alok Shekhar, issued the suspension order, which read, 'Jagatpreet Singh, PPS (Punjab Police Service officer), SSP Vigilance has been placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 4(1) (a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, for his grave misconduct and dereliction of duty.' In Ludhiana, Sondh alleged that 'Ashu manipulated his connections to fabricate the notice, aiming to portray himself as a victim and divert public attention from his alleged multi-crore corruption in a school land scam'. 'This is possibly the first time in India's political history that a politician has stooped so low and fabricated summons to play a victim card. Bharat Bhushan Ashu's intent was clear — to garner sympathy by portraying himself as a target of the current government,' alleged Sondh. The AAP leader alleged that the Congress party is resorting to desperate and unethical tactics out of fear of imminent defeat in Ludhiana West. 'Strict action has been taken against the vigilance officer involved in this conspiracy. The officer who misused his position to favour Ashu has been suspended. Such behaviour will not be tolerated under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann,' he said. However, Punjab Congress president and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring took a strong exception to the Vigilance Bureau summoning party candidate Ashu amid the latter's election campaign. Warring said in Ludhiana, 'Summoning Ashu at this stage only reveals that AAP has admitted its defeat and is now acting in sheer frustration.' 'The cat is out of the bag as both Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann are feeling desperate and frustrated about the imminent fact that they are losing the elections,' he claimed. Condemning the summons issued to Ashu, he asked why did the vigilance need to issue these in the midst of the campaign and why they could not wait till the elections. AAP has fielded Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora for the bypoll. The Congress has fielded former minister Ashu, who had remained MLA twice from this seat in 2012 and 2017. PTI SUN KSS KSS This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
New Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Vigilance sleuth suspended after issuing summons to Punjab Congress leader, AAP alleges nexus between them
CHANDIGARH: A day after the state vigilance bureau issued a summons to the Congress candidate for the Ludhiana (West) assembly seat Bharat Bhushan Ashu in connection with an alleged Rs 2,400 crore scam, the Punjab government suspended Jagatpreet Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) at Ludhiana, claiming that he issued the summons in connivance with Ashu to benefit him in the ensuing bypoll. The summons issued by Jagatpreet Singh directed Ashu to appear for questioning on Friday. The summons related to a First Information Report (FIR) registered on January 8 in which Ashu and others were accused of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and conspiracy. The investigation was transferred to the Vigilance Bureau owing to the suspected involvement of government officials. The alleged scam pertains to 4.7 acres of land given to New Senior Secondary School in Sarabha Nagar at a subsidised rate strictly for educational purposes by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) decades ago. However, during investigations it came to light that parts of this land are being illegally used for commercial activities. Additional Chief Secretary, (Home) Alok Shekhar, issued the order which states that Jagatpreet Singh has been placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 4(1) (a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, for his "grave misconduct and dereliction of duty". Meanwhile, the state Congress leadership has trashed the allegations of a nexus between Ashu and the suspended police officer. Calling it a 'a calculated attempt to intimidate' Ashu ahead of the Ludhiana West bypoll, senior Congress leader and leader of the opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said, "It's clear that the AAP government first tried to use state machinery to scare Ashu into silence. Summons were issued to him by the Vigilance Bureau just weeks before polling—not as part of any genuine investigation, but as a crude, desperate tactic to gain political advantage." Bajwa questioned the intent behind the timing, calling it a 'desperate, dictatorial move' and a gross misuse of power. 'This is not governance; this is vendetta politics at its worst,' he said. "When their intimidation attempt backfired and public backlash intensified, the AAP shifted gears in a bizarre U-turn. In an unbelievable twist, Vigilance Bureau SSP Jagatpreet Singh—who had issued the summons to Ashu—was suddenly suspended," he said.
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
SSP Vigilance Jagatpreet Singh, who issued summons to Congress Ludhiana West bypoll candidate Ashu, suspended
The Punjab government Friday suspended Jagatpreet Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Vigilance, Ludhiana, a day after he issued a summons to Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu. Alok Shekhar, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Home Affairs, issued the suspension order. The order says that Jagatpreet Singh has been placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 4(1) (a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970, for his 'grave misconduct and dereliction of duty'. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau summoned Congress leader and Ludhiana West bypoll candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu in connection with a five-month-old school land misuse case. The summons relate to a First Information Report (FIR) filed on January 8, 2025, at Ludhiana's Division Number 5 police station, accusing Ashu and others of cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery, and conspiracy. The investigation was transferred to the Vigilance Bureau owing to suspected involvement of government officials. At least 25 others, including current and former school management committee members, were also summoned. Government sources alleged that the SSP Vigilance issued the summons in connivance with Ashu to give him the benefit in the ensuing by-poll slated for June 19. However, Congress leader Raj Kumar Verka trashed the allegations and said it was just an excuse of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. 'Does the AAP want to say that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who is also the state home minister and to whom the Vigilance Bureau reports, is so helpless that he does not know what is happening right under his nose?' Verka told media persons. Reacting to SSP's suspension, Ashu, while speaking to The Indian Express, said it was a 'cheap tactic of the ruling AAP government' and yet another U-turn which it has taken after facing widespread criticism. On allegations that he was 'in touch with the SSP' and 'got summons issued to himself', Ashu said: 'Did I send the case file to the vigilance and ask them to send summons to me? Is Ashu so powerful in the AAP government that he can get summons issued to himself? They make police officers scapegoats as per their whims and fancies. Earlier, they had suspended Chief Director Vigilance SPS Parmar in a similar way. The AAP's cheap politics cannot get dirtier than this.' Ashu further said that since the past two weeks as the campaigning for Ludhiana West by-election gathered pace, a 'message' has been sent to all 28 police stations in Ludhiana 'to dig out if any previous/old complaints' are pending against him so that he can be 'implicated and harassed again.' 'Ashu nu phasao (implicate Ashu) is the only motive of this government,' said Ashu. Responding to the school land misuse case in which he was sent fresh summons, he said: 'It has been over a decade since I had resigned from that school's management committee. Twenty-seven others who also left the committee several years ago have been summoned just because they know me. This is the height.' Ashu also refuted allegations of any meeting being held between him and the suspended SSP in recent times. Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in Ludhiana, Ashu, along with other senior Congress leaders, released the photographs of a meeting, purportedly showing AAP Ludhiana West bypoll candidate-cum-Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora addressing a group of officials, including Jagatpreet Singh. Kapurthala Congress MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh said, 'This photograph is clear evidence of how the entire administration and the police machinery are working on the orders of the AAP candidate. He has no authority to address or order government officials or the police, but he is doing that. What the AAP is doing to win this election is morally and ethically wrong.' Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on 'Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers' had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More
Time of India
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Ludhiana DDPO ordered to file FIRs against 4 BDPOs, 6 panchayat secys in Rs 121 crore embezzlement scam case
Ludhiana: As the Punjab rural development department suspended three officials in connection with an alleged Rs 121 crore embezzlement involving six village panchayats of Ludhiana, the administrative secretary has "ordered" the District Development Panchayat Officer (DDPO) to get an FIR registered against BDPOs and panchayat secretaries. On Monday, administrative secretary Ajit Balaji Joshi suspended block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) Rupinderjit Kaur and senior executive officers (SEPOs) Simrat Kaur and Gurpreet Singh Mangat, pending further inquiry under the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970. The action followed an inquiry initiated in October 2023 by Punjab rural development and panchayats minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, after reports surfaced of suspicious withdrawals from fixed deposits meant for village development in six panchayats (Salempur, Sekhewal, Selkiana, Bounkar Gujran, Kadiana Khurd, and Dhanansu) under Ludhiana Block 2. DDPO Ludhiana Navdeep Kaur confirmed that she received a letter from the administrative secretary of the department ordering her to get an FIR registered against four BDPOs: Rupinderjit Kaur, Gurpreet Singh, Gurpreet Singh Mangat, and Simrat Kaur, and six Panchayat Secretaries: Gurmail Singh (now retired), Harpal Singh Randhawa, Bagga Singh, Jashandeep Chandel, Harpal Singh Sahjomajra, and Harjit Singh Malhotra. She added that she is writing to the Ludhiana police commissioner to register an FIR against the four officers and six Panchayat Secretaries. An official in the DDPO office said that police are expected to register a case of fraud and start a probe into the matter. The official added that the detailed probe will reveal the financial fraud by each of these officials. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Google Brain Co-Founder Andrew Ng, Recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo An official of the DDPO office further said that after they learn about the embezzlement by each of the officials involved, the recovery process will start from their personal assets. The official added that recoveries will be made from the Sarpanches of the villages who were ordered to be charge-sheeted. Those identified were Sudagar Singh (Dhanansu), Neha (Salempur), Amrik Kaur (Sekhewal), Mukhtiar Singh (Bounkar Gujran), Harpreet Kaur (Selkiana), and Rajinder Kaur (Kadiana Khurd), besides officiating Panch of Bounkar Gujran village, Gurcharan Singh. Sources in the DDPO office said that BDPOs and Panchayat Secretaries face allegations of diluting the Fixed Deposits, which they were not supposed to do, besides embezzling huge sums of public money. They added that the officials also face allegations of non-production of records and unauthorised expenditures. Sources further said that during the preliminary probe, the DDPO found a surprising case in Sekhewal village, which, as per the 2011 census, has a population of 260. However, according to the bank transaction statement, around Rs 10 crore were withdrawn from the panchayat account for development works. They added that the initial probe also discovered that nearly 58 houses were allegedly built without any departmental policy and approval by the village Dhanansu panchayat, and no record was allegedly furnished in this regard. **Box 1:** As per reports, panchayats of villages Salempur, Sekhewal, Selkiana, Bounkar Gujran, Kadiana Khurd, and Dhanansu of block Ludhiana-2 received an award of Rs 252.94 crore after the acquisition of hundreds of acres of panchayat land of these villages between the financial years 2016-17 to 2020-21. However, Rs 120.87 crore were withdrawn from this amount with the connivance of some corrupt officers and employees along with Sarpanches. Total award money in lieu of acquisition of village common land of six villages: Rs 242 crore Amount received by village (approximate): - Dhanansu: Rs 95 crore - Salempur: Rs 5 crore - Kadiana Khurd: Rs 35 crore - Sekhewal: Rs 77 crore - Selkiana: Rs 4 crore - Bounkar Gujran: Rs 25 crore **Box 2:** As per the norms, panchayats had to deposit the land acquisition compensation as a fixed deposit (FD) and execute village development works using only the interest generated from it. However, as per the report, in violation of norms, the money was withdrawn from fixed deposits. MSID:: 120551828 413 |
Time of India
22-04-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Ludhiana block officers suspended in panchayat award money embezzlement case
Ludhiana: More than a year after a local inquiry flagged large-scale financial irregularities, Punjab's rural development department has suspended three officials in connection with an alleged ₹121 crore embezzlement involving six village panchayats in this district. Administrative secretary Ajit Balaji Joshi on Monday confirmed the suspension of block development and panchayat Officer (BDPO) Rupinderjit Kaur and senior executive officers (SEPOs) Simrat Kaur and Gurpreet Singh Mangat, pending further inquiry under the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970. The action follows an inquiry initiated in Oct 2023 by Punjab rural development and panchayats minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, after reports surfaced of suspicious withdrawals from fixed deposits meant for village development in six panchayats under Ludhiana Block 2. The panchayats—Salempur, Sekhewal, Selkiana, Bounkar Gujran, Kadiana Khurd, and Dhanansu—allegedly misused land compensation funds totaling ₹120.87 crore, disbursed between 2016–2021 after land acquisitions for industrial projects and private development. Inquiry paused, then revived by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like [Click Here] - 2025 Top Trending Search - Local network access Esseps Learn More Undo While a district-level inquiry conducted by the district development and panchayat office (DDPO) had recommended action against at least four BDPOs and several sarpanches initially, the state's investigation was stalled earlier this year. A retired IAS officer, R C Nayyar, had been appointed to lead the investigation, but proceedings were paused unexpectedly in Feb. Joshi now says the inquiry is being reopened and recovery proceedings will follow. "This is a case of fraud. The govt is clear — action will be taken against all those responsible," he told the TOI, confirming that action against sarpanches and panchayat secretaries was also in progress. What the rules say Under existing norms, panchayats receiving land compensation are required to place the funds in fixed deposits and use only the interest accrued for development activities. However, in violation of this rule, the funds were reportedly withdrawn directly from the principal amounts, without prior departmental approval. A senior official involved in the inquiry stated that these withdrawals appeared to be carried out with the "connivance" of panchayat leaders and rural development staff. The DDPO report had recommended lodging FIRs and had triggered a vigilance probe. "The system was clear — use interest, not principal. Instead, fixed deposits were liquidated without approval. This isn't negligence; it's organised misuse," said an official on condition of anonymity. Broader accountability The Oct 2023 directive from Minister Bhullar also called for chargesheets against BDPOs Rupinderjit Kaur, Simrat Kaur, Gurpreet Singh Mangat, and Gurpreet Singh, along with multiple panchayat secretaries and sarpanches. Officials say the suspended officers may also face further departmental action after the inquiry concludes. It continues amid growing calls for transparency and criminal accountability in the handling of public development funds in rural Punjab. MSID:: 120516297 413 |
