Cong leaders seek probe into revenue losses

CHANDIGARH: A day after Punjab chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh was relieved of the additional charge of financial commissioner, taxation, the stalemate between the ruling Congress leaders and the state government on Wednesday deepened with several of them demanding a probe into revenue losses in the excise department in the past three years.

State cooperation minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar were among those who backed the demand for removal of Karan Avtar from the post of chief secretary besides an inquiry into the decisions taken by the excise department.

Besides, Congress MLAs Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Raj Kumar Verka, Joginder Pal, Balwinder Singh Laddi, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Barinder Singh Pahra, Fatehjang Singh Bajwa and Kulbir Singh Zira also pressed for the demands.

The logjam was triggered by a showdown between the chief secretary, who also held the charge of financial commissioner, taxation, and two ministers — Manpreet Singh Badal (finance) and Charanjit Singh Channi (technical education) at a pre-cabinet meeting last week over some changes in the state excise policy to provide relief to liquor contractors for the lockdown period. The ministers expressed reservations over the proposed changes and stormed out of the meeting, objecting to the chief secretary’s demeanour.

At Monday’s cabinet meeting, they demanded Karan Avtar’s removal. Even as Amarinder relieved the chief secretary of the additional charge of financial commissioner, taxation, after his showdown with some ministers and Warring’s allegations that the officer’s son had interests in liquor trade, the move failed to placate the party leaders. Warring, who had thanked Amarinder for relieving the officer of the additional charge, was the first one to demand an inquiry against him on Wednesday for revenue losses of Rs 600 crore in the excise department. “..kindly remove him from his post of chief secretary so that he is unable to influence the inquiry,” he posted on Twitter. Thereafter, eight Congress MLAs and some other party leaders, one after the other, supported his two demands on the social networking sites.

MLA ACCUSES BAJWA OF THREATENING CHANNI

Joginder Pal, MLA from Bhoa, even accused rural development minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa of issuing a threat to Charanjit Singh Channi for raking up the issue. “Channi told me about it. This kind of behaviour is totally wrong. Bajwa should apologise,” he told a television channel. Bajwa could not be contacted.

Channi and Manpreet Badal were among the first to demand the officer’s removal.

Jakhar said the CM should remove Karan Avtar because his behaviour with the ministers was not proper and there were allegations against him. “The face-off is being portrayed as a conflict between ministers and the chief minister, but this is not true. The real trouble is with the bureaucracy,” he claimed.

Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa said the act of divesting the chief secretary of the excise pointed to a larger problem in the department’s functioning. “I urge that you call an enquiry into any conflict of interest by a central investigating agency (sic),” he said in a series of tweets.