Former minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Monday demanded registration of a criminal case against Kartarpur legislator Balkar Singh for 'falsely' claiming that he (Balkar Singh) has 50% disability so as to secure a seat for his son (as a sub-inspector) in the police recruitment process. The current rules mandate reserving 2 per cent seats for wards of disabled police officers in the police recruitment process, and according to Majithia, the Kartarpur legislator (Balkar Singh) who is also former Punjab Police DCP was misusing this rule by making false claims of disability. Majithia also called for action against the legislator’s son and all police officers who had colluded in this illegality. Giving details while addressing a press conference here on Monday, Majithia said Balkar Singh’s son Shishobitveer had failed to qualify in the examination held to recruit sub-inspectors, the process for which started in the previous Congress government in August 2021. He also alleged that more than a year after failing to clear the examination in the Scheduled Caste category, Shishobitveer sought to change his category. “On October 20, 2022, the state DGP gave a letter to the former DCP (Balkar Singh) at the latter’s request stating that his son has qualified for the recruitment under the 2 per cent reservation given to wards of disabled police officers and that Balkar Singh was 50% disabled.” Majithia asserted that the certificate, based on which Shishobitveer had approached the high court and stalled the recruitment process in which 4,000 candidates had been shortlisted, was false. He showed photographs to prove that Balkar Singh was not 50% disabled as was claimed. He also asserted that as per rules, a candidate applying for a government post cannot change his category once the application is submitted. “It seems Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has gone out of the way to help the Kartarpur MLA and the state DGP has also given a wrong certificate to the legislator. Both issues should be probed and action should be taken against all the guilty,” Majithia asserted while demanding that a medical board should examine the Kartarpur legislator and determine whether he was 50% disabled as claimed by him. The SAD leader also alleged that non-Punjabis were being hired at high salaries by the AAP government in violation of the rule/clause, which required all candidates to have knowledge of Punjabi. These included Adil Azmi of Okhla (Delhi) who has been hired as OSD (Media) of CM Mann and one social media manager at a monthly salary of Rs 1.50 lakh and Rs 1.25 lakh, respectively, along with perks of government house and vehicle. Speaking about the two recruitments done in the media department, Majithia said both the appointments should be set aside on the grounds that the candidates had not studied Punjabi till matriculate level. He also spoke out against the import of officers from Delhi and other parts of India. “It seems Punjab does not have any talent whatsoever,” Majithia said sarcastically. He said recently the Punjab government had hired two yoga teachers at a monthly salary of Rs 1 lakh each apparently to please Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is also the AAP national convener. Similarly, he said, former Delhi bureaucrats were being adjusted in Punjab, namely Satya Gopal being made chairman of RERA; Rakesh Goyal, member of RERA; and Satbir Bedi, chairperson of PSEB. When asked about allying to BJP, Majithia said there was no question of realigning with the saffron party. He said that BJP was working against the interests of farmers in Punjab who were being harassed at every level. The BJP-led central government had imposed a value cut on the purchase of damaged wheat, something farmer unions have opposed, he said to substantiate his point. Also, the youths were being prosecuted under draconian laws like National Security Act, he added. Meanwhile, SAD-BSP joint candidate Sukhwinder Singh Sukhi on Monday said that the Chaudhary family of Santokh Singh Chaudhary, whose untimely demise had necessitated the Jalandhar bypoll, had lost all rights to the votes of people of this parliamentary constituency because it had failed to deliver the goods despite having got a chance to represent the constituency twice in a row. “I challenge Congress party to list out at least three achievements of Santokh Chaudhary. If it succeeds in doing it, I will take back my words.” Asserting that he had taken a round of the constituency in the last more than 10 days and was completely disappointed with the condition of even basic infrastructure, Sukhi said, “Santokh Chaudhary as MP got Rs 50 crore to spend in the area during the last nine years, but there is nothing on the ground to suggest that he made any positive change in the constituency.” Sukhi also tore into the AAP government for neglecting the lower caste community. “The AAP government did not celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar as a state function on April 14 and even insulted the entire Scheduled Caste community by submitting an affidavit in the high court stating that SC candidates did not have the required intelligence to be appointed as law officers in the state government,” Sukhi said.
