Captain orders probe against his minister

chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered a one-man judicial commission to probe the allegations of impropriety against irrigation and power minister Rana Gurjit Singh in the multi-crore sand mining auctions conducted recently by the state government.

The inquiry will be conducted by Justice (Retd) J S Narang who will submit his report within a month. The terms of reference for the inquiry commission, formed under the Commission of Inquiry Act, will be notified soon.

Meanwhile, Rana Gurjit has offered to resign in order to ensure a free and fair investigation. Amarinder has, however, asked him to continue till outcome of the judicial probe.

The Punjab chief minister announced his decision to set up a judicial commission after taking suo motu cognizance of media reports charging the minister with acquiring certain mines in the names of his company’s staff.

There was no question of allowing any deviation from his government’s avowed policy of providing clean governance, said Captain Amarinder.

The two-day sand auctions, in which these bids are alleged to have been secured, related to 50 mines and they have already generated a revenue of nearly ~300 crore, leading to the highest ever earnings from the mining sector for the state government. According to a government spokesperson, 56 more mines will be put to auction on June 11 and that the government was expecting to generate another ~300 crore from them.

The state government’s revenue from the mine auction last year was ~40 crore.