The Punjab Congress on Wednesday asked the State Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia to look back at his own conspicuous role in a multi-crore land deal at village Mandi Khurd in district Bathinda in which an undue benefit of approximately Rs 5.62 crore was given from the State exchequer to four politically influential families close to him.
“The matter was probed by the CBI on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the entire deal is now under the High Court scanner,” stated the Congress leaders — State Congress vice-president Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Mohali MlA Balbir Singh Sidhu, and Bathinda’s former MlA Harminder Singh Jassi, in a joint statement.
They stated that the High Court bench comprising Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, while admitting the petition, had stated that the CBI report had prima facie established the charges of bungling in the land deal. The report was presented before the High Court bench on January 29, 2013. “The issue was intensively reported by the media and some reports had mentioned Majithia’s name who allegedly facilitated the land deal to benefit his favourites,” they added.
The Congress leaders said that Majithia’s name had figured in the said deal and reported by media, and the same were not denied by the Revenue Minister. “It is a clear case of evasion of stamp duty, loss to government exchequer, cheating and conspiracy to benefit certain politically influential families. SAD-BJP Government has not taken any cognizance of the land deal in question which forced the petitioners to move to the High Court,” they added.