Sacrilege, false cases: Sukhbir seeks probes by apex court judges
SAD chief says Ranjit Singh panel reduced to a joke
CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday “dared” the Punjab government to ask a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to inquire into all cases of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in Punjab during the tenures of both the SAD-BJP and the present Congress regime. “We will cooperate with the sitting judge in his inquiry and will accept the findings,” he said.
He said the present commission headed by Justice (retd) Ranjit Singh had “already been reduced to joke” by announcement of its findings by both CM Captain Amarinder Singh and state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, “both of whom have been declaring that the commission will find Akalis guilty of being behind these acts of sacrilege even while the commission is still supposed to be conducting its inquiry”.
He said that a sitting judge of the apex court could similarly probe all “false” cases during the tenure of the SAD-BJP as well as during the last 10 months of the Congress government, particularly those in the home town of state Congress president Sunil Jakhar.
He said “a known Congress- man” Justice (retd) Mehtab Singh Gill was heading a commission on this at present.
Speaking about the partial crop loan waiver started on Sunday, the SAD president said Am arin der Singh had defrauded the entire farming community.
“This is the same man who promised a waiver encompassing all loans... Now he has delivered a Rs 167-crore relief which gives an average relief of Rs 35,000 each to 47,000 farmers.” He said the SAD core committee will on January 12 decide its course of action on “this fraud”.
Further, he said the SAD-BJP government headed by Parkash Singh Badal had given a relief of Rs 65,000 crore over 15 years by introducing free power for agriculture tubewells.
“This amounted to a relief of Rs 80,000 to 1 lakh for each farmer annually. This is not all. We gave a relief of Rs 642 crore to cotton farmers for single crop damage. We increased the peracre compensation from Rs 2,000 to Rs 8,000. We also gave an interest-free working capital limit of Rs 1 lakh to farmers,” the former chief minister said.
› n We will cooperate with the sitting judge in his inquiry and will accept the findings.
SUKHBIR SINGH BADAL, Shiromani Akali Dal president