BLATANT VIOLATION OF BIDDING TERMS IN AWARDING MINES IN PUNJAB: PANEL

Oneman inquiry panel gives clean chit to Rana Gurjit on all counts; adds bids of two men, accused of being front men of the minister, for mines in Nawanshahr, were “not sustainable”

CHANDIGARH:The Justice JS Narang (retd) Commission, constituted by the Punjab government to look into power and irrigation minister Rana Gurjit Singh’s role in the controversial sand mining auction, found “blatant violations of bidding conditions” in awarding the tender for two mines to persons alleged to be linked to the minister.

The one-man inquiry panel, which gave a clean chit to Rana Gurjit on all counts, said the bids of ₹26.52 crore and ₹9.21 crore by Amit Bahadur and Kulvinder Paul Singh, who were accused of being front men of the minister, for mines in Saidpur Khurd and Mehadipur villages of Nawanshahr, respectively, were “not sustainable”.

The two mines were at the centre of the controversy that broke out just weeks after the Congress formed the government, forcing it to form the inquiry panel.

In its 84-page report, the Narang commission said the two bidders had given categorical statements that they had neither deposited any amount, including processing fee, earnest money and 50% of the bid money, themselves nor any amount had been deposited through their bank accounts as mandatorily provided in the bidding conditions.

As per bidding conditions number 5 and 25, Amit and Kulvinder were required to deposit the earnest money through their respective bank accounts. “The earnest money was deposited by Sahil Singla from his personal bank account... he is neither an applicant bidder nor is he recognised by the department as a bidder. The violation stands conclusively established,” it said.

DEPT TOOK DEPOSIT IN BREACH OF TERMS

The inquiry report said the department of mines “erroneously” took the deposit of earnest money on behalf of Amit and

Kulvinder from the bank account of Sahil.

Also, once the bids were accepted, Amit and Kulvinder were required to pay 50% of the bid amount, which came to ₹13.35 crore for Saidpur Khurd and ₹4.61 crore for Mehadipur. However, Sanjit Randhawa, a resident of Chandigarh, deposited this amount for the mines from

his “sole propriety” firm M/s Rajbir Enterprises, according to the report.

Leader of opposition in Punjab assembly Sukhpal Singh Khaira, who released the commission report at a press conference here, said, Randhawa and Sahil were connected with the power minister and the inquiry panel needed to dig deeper.

Justice Narang had handed over his report to chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on August 10, but the government kept it under wraps. Khaira got a copy of the report under RTI.

“The money has been deposited by Sahil and Randhawa from their accounts and that such monies were not linked with the minister in any manner. Since there is not even an iota of evidence pointing towards the minister for any kind of financial link with the two bidders, the allegation that the two bidders were bidding on behalf of minister is not sustainable,” it said.

The commission also rejected the charge that the minister influenced the price bid at which these two mines were awarded, saying that the process and procedure of the auction held on May 19 and 20 was computercontrolled, with no human intervention.