Respondents asked to file reply on plea for transfer of case

NACHHATAR SINGH, ONE OF THE ACCUSED IN THE SCAM, HAD MOVED AN APPLICATION FOR TRANSFERRING THE CASE TO THE COURT OF THE DISTRICT AND SESSIONS JUDGE ON FEBRUARY 17

MOHALI : District and sessions judge Archana Puri on Wednesday took a note of the plea for the transfer of the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) land scam case from the court of additional district and sessions judge Jaswinder Singh to her court and asked all respondents to file a reply by February 26.

Nachhatar Singh, one of the accused in the scam, had moved an application for transferring the case to the court of the district and sessions judge on February 17. Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh is also an accused in the case. He was represented by APS Deol along with director of prosecution Vijay Singla.The trial court of additional district and sessions judge has fixed the date of hearing in the case on February 28.

The plea for transfer was moved quoting a 2012 order of the Punjab and Haryana high court, which stated the case should be heard by the senior most judge of the district court. Jaswinder Singh is fourth in line in terms of seniority.

The petitioner added that he was the main whistle-blower .The scam had rocked the 12th Vidhan Sabha in March 2006 when the then ruling Congress MLA Bir Devinder Singh raised questions on Trust exempting 32-acre land from acquisition, allegedly to favour a private builder. FIR was lodged in September 2008 after probe report was tabled.