VB summons former SAD minister Dhillon, ex-chief secy Kaushal

IRRIGATION SCAM

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau has summoned former irrigation minister and SAD leader Sharanjit Dhillon and former chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal on Tuesday in the ongoing probe into an alleged multi-crore scam in the irrigation department.

According to information gathered from the vigilance bureau (VB) officers, both Dhillon and Kaushal have been asked to appear before the officers of VB at Mohali. Kaushal, a 1982 batch IAS, who remained chief secretary between June 2014 and March 2017, retired in August 2018, whereas Dhillon remained irrigation minister between 2012 and 2017 and was considered one of the powerful ministers during the Akali regime.

Both have been summoned in the FIR registered on August 17, 2017, under the Prevention of Corruption Act against kingpin and contractor Gurinder Singh and three senior officers of the Punjab government for alleged misuse of public funds.

The VB said that during the Akali government’s tenure, senior officials connived with the contractor Gurinder Singh and allocated works worth ₹1,000 cr to him at more than 50% of the departmental rates.

Gurinder was arrested by the VB in 2017 and at present is out on bail.

It’s alleged that Gurinder and several others were awarded contracts of drainage repair over ₹3,000 cr through tailor-made conditions allegedly by senior bureaucrats and top officials of the irrigation department. He was favoured to the tune of ₹1,000 cr in just seven contracts, the vigilance investigation recorded.

VB investigation has also recorded that engineers of the irrigation department favoured Gurinder Singh and Company, a firm that Gurinder owned. He was allotted more than 60% of the total work by cost, in violation of the rules and guidelines of the department.

The VB has already quizzed retired IAS Kahan Singh Pannu in the case, while former additional chief secretary KBS Sidhu, whose name also appeared in the case, moved Punjab and Haryana high court, following which the court restrained the VB from taking any coercive step against him till February 8.

The former IAS officer is said to be in the USA and had also sought directions that he should not be arrested on his return. Kaushal is also said to be in a foreign country for the past couple of months.

The retired IAS officers are being probed in the case related to their role when they were posted in the irrigation department during the Akali regime.

Gurinder was the blue-eyed contractor of the department during that time, the VB probe had claimed.

Former minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon, who was irrigation minister between the Akali regime between 2007 and 2012, is also under VB scanner in the probe.

On September 17, a lookout circular was issued against three retired IAS whose names have appeared in the case and the two Akali ministers.