Punjab to move SC against bail to Dharamsot, Gilzian’s nephew
The Punjab government will move the Supreme Court to file a special leave petition (SLP) against the Punjab and Haryana high court’s September order granting regular bails to former forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Daljit Singh, nephew of Dharamsot successor Sangat Singh Gilzian.
Dharamsot, the former forest minister in Captain Amarinder Singh’s cabinet, was arrested on June 7 and booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly taking kickbacks to issue permits to cut khair trees, transfer officials, make purchases and issue no-objection certificates (NOCS) for private infrastructure development on forest land. The case was registered on the basis of revelations made by arrested Mohali DFO Guramanpreet Singh and contractor Harminder Singh Hummy, who detailed various wrongdoings in the department during the tenure of the minister. Guramanpreet and Harminder were arrested by the vigilance bureau on June 2 after
a video of a sting operation came to the fore in which Guramanpreet was purportedly seen seeking a bribe of ₹2 lakh for the sale of illegal farmhouses in the vicinity of Chandigarh.
The accused were booked under Sections 7, 7A (public servant taking illegal gratification), 13(1)(A), 13(2) (criminal misconduct by public servant) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The VB had on July 13 arrested Daljit, who allegedly acted as a middleman and collected “ill-gotten money” from contractors and also made money through illegal mining, purchase of tree guards, transfers,
issuance of permits for felling of khair trees and construction of slip roads for commercial establishments near highways when his uncle Sangat Singh Gilzian was the forest minister in the Charanjit Singh Channi government.
The high court bench of justice Raj Mohan Singh on September 5 granted bail to Dharamsot and Daljit. According to rules, the aggrieved party can approach the apex court in an appeal against the order passed by any court or tribunal across the country in case a substantial question of law is involved.
The superintendent to the government of Punjab, department of home affairs and justice (judicial-2 branch) on October 21 had given its sanction to file the SLP in the Supreme Court. A copy of the sanction latter has been accessed by HT.
Officials privy to the development said the state government will soon file an appeal against the bail granted to both the accused and documents regarding the same have been sought by the Punjab advocate general from the departments concerned.
While granting bail to Dharamsot, the court observed: “He was arrested and remained under police remand, but no recovery could be made from him.” In case of Daljit, the court observed: “He was arrested on July 13, 2022, and despite eight days of police remand, no recovery was made. The petitioner has not transacted any business dealings on behalf of his uncle and has not committed any wrong, except to pursue the case of his uncle in court of law being an advocate. The FIR is silent about the involvement of the petitioner in the alleged commission of offence.”
Sangat Singh Gilzian is also on interim protection from arrest by high court in the same case.