Punjab industrial plot case: Vigilance case against ex-minister, IAS officer

A spokesperson of the VB said in order to promote industry, the Punjab government had allotted 25 acres of land to Anand Lamps Limited through a sale deed in 1987 which was later transferred to a firm, Signify Innovations. This plot was then sold to Gulmohar Township through a sale deed by the Signify Innovations after procuring no objection certificate from the PSIDC. On March 17, 2021, then industry and commerce minister Sundar Sham Arora forwarded a letter to then MD, PSIDC, received from Gulmohar Township for further bifurcation of plots.

The spokesperson said that the PSIDC MD had constituted a departmental committee to examine the proposal of this realtor firm. The members of the committee were SP Singh, executive director; Ankur Chaudhary, estate officer; Bhai Sukhdeep Singh Sidhu; Davinderpal Singh, GM personnel; Tejveer Singh, DTP, (deceased); J S Bhatia, chief general manager (planning); Ashima Aggarwal, ATP (planning); Parminder Singh, executive engineer; Rajat, DA, and Sandeep Singh, SDE.

The committee, headed by SP singh, had approved the proposal of the realtor firm to bifurcate 12 plots into 125 small plots without taking notice of proposal report, project report, articles of association and memorandum of association in this regard.

In addition to this, the said committee had recommended the proposal of Gulmohar Township without consulting Punjab Pollution Control Board, Municipal Corporation, Electricity Board, Forest Department and State Fire Brigade.

During investigation by the Forensic Science Laboratory, it was also found that two pages of the noting on file didn’t match with the rest of the pages attached in the file. It was found that the committee members had attached fake documents and didn’t scrutinise the said application/proposal thoroughly.

The spokesperson said that according to the deed of 1987, this plot was to be used for industrial purposes only and the said Gulmohar Township has no such background.

He added that according to the PSIDC rules, the fee for plots was to be charged at the rate of Rs 20 per yard and Rs 3 per year from the year 1987, which was a total fee of Rs 1,51,25,000 for a total of 1,21,000 square yards. It was astonishing that the accused firm had already attached pay order of Rs 27,83,000 with the application while no one from the PSIDC had demanded it. Due to this, the Punjab government has incurred a financial loss of Rs 1,23,42,000.

The spokesperson said that during the probe, it was found that if this plot was to be sold as per the instructions/rules of the state government, the government would have got an income of Rs 600 to 700 crore. At the time of sale of 125 plots by Gulmohar Township, no proposal report, project report, articles of association and memorandum of association were demanded from any buyer and sold all the plots illegally.

The spokesman said that by doing this, the committee members, then MD Neelima and former minister Sundar Sham Arora colluded with each other and misused their official positions to give unfair advantage to the owners/directors of Gulmohar Township Company, Jagdeep Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Rakesh Kumar Sharma.

In this regard, the VB registered a case under sections 13 (1) (a), 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and sections 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC at VB police station in Mohali against all the accused officers/officials of PSIDC, IAS officer Neelima and former minister besides three directors of Gulmohar Township.