Besides judges, Punjab club gave memberships to CM, his top brass

From the judiciary, there is Justice Viney Mittal and Justice Virender Singh, the two judges who were asked to explain their membership by Chief Justice B K Roy.

Then there are at least 15 IPS officers and four IAS officers, including Punjab and Haryana DGPs, A A Siddiqui and M S Malik respectively, and former Chief Secretary Y S Ratra. Malik, incidentally, is the officer who has gone on leave after the Election Commission objected to his presence given that his wife has got a ticket from the ruling party.

Situated in Karoran village in the lowest range of Shivalik Hills, just 15 minutes from Chandigarh’s northern sectors, large sections of the hillside were cut down to accommodate the resort. The land is jointly owned by Sandhu, of Worldwide Immigration and Consultancy Services (WWICS), Dashmesh Academy, Sandhu’s son Devinder and the WWICS.

While the club claims to be spread over 62 acres, the PIL filed in the court says it occupies 381 acres. An interim report filed by the Punjab Forests Department, following site inspection and photography, states that Sandhu owns 379 acres at Karoran. The entire property is walled and is in alleged violation of the Forest Conservation Act.

At present, it has a nine-hole golf course. But there is a proposal to expand it to 18 holes. The club management also ‘‘plans to construct’’ apartments in this area.

Although the Punjab Forests Department and the Punjab Urban Development Authority have filed a series of cases against the club, there has been no action yet for the alleged violations of the Forest Conservation Act, Land Preservation Act and Punjab New Capital Periphery (Control) Act.

Instead, three former Financial Commissioners of Forests are also members of the club — FC (revenue) Gurbinder Chahal, FC (Programme Implementation) R N Gupta and Principal Secretary Coordination V N Ojha. Besides, Additional Secretary Forests S S Bajwa is also on the list.

Many other civil servants, top police officers, Indian Revenue Service officers, Customs and Excise officers are among the members. Prominent among these are former Ropar DC G S Grewal, former Ropar SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, present SSP Surinder Pal Singh, ADGP Crime K K Attwal, IGP S K Sharma, IGP J P Birdi, IGP Shashi Kant and president of the Punjab IAS Officers Association B R Bajaj.

When contacted, IGP Kant said: ‘‘Yes, I was given membership. But I was never in charge of the area where the club lies.’’

Others like IG Rajan Gupta and Rattan Singh Chalia refused to comment saying that the matter was sub-judice.