Much before the report submitted by Justice JS Narang into the sand mine auction was made public, the opposition parties in Punjab have started picking holes in the same on the basis of likely” clean chit to the Cabinet Minister Rana Gurjit Singh in the same.
While the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday declared to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court to take the matter to the logical conclusion, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) maintained that the matter be handed over to the central probing agency.
Terming Justice JS Narang’s report as “pre-meditated”, AAP has declared to challenge it in the High Court.
leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha Sukhpal Singh Khaira, disapproving the report of Justice Narang Commission, said: “It is an attempt by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to waste the public exchequer’s money to give clean chit to a corrupt minister.”
Khaira declared, “The fight against the corrupt Minister will be taken to the logical conclusion and we will knock the doors of Punjab and Haryana High Court,”
“The belated and pre-meditated inquiry ordered by Capt Amarinder into the mining scam was a tailor-made exercise to absolve the accused Minister Rana Gurjit Singh through a handpicked and controversial commission head...Capt Amarinder claims about zero tolerance to corruption have fallen flat with failing to take action against a corrupt minister,” he said.
AAP had urged Justice Narang, Rana Gurjit Singh, Capt JS Randhawa and other accused to clarify if they had ever remained in a lawyer-client relationship, he said adding, “Because Rana Gurjit had remained a client of Justice JS Narang in his capacity as a counsel and it is clear that nothing would come out of the inquiry of the said Commission. The whole exercise was farce and done just to give clean chit to Rana Gurjit”.
Khaira maintained that the inquiry had been set up after giving ample time to the accused Minister, to do a clean-up job of his and his company’s accounts before any legal scrutiny.
“The fact that this Commission was set to give a pre-meditated clean chit to the tainted minister further stand substantiated by the elevation of Commission’s presenting officer Avtar Singh Sandhu as Additional Advocate General by the government,” Khaira pointed adding that Sandhu is a very close aide of Justice Narang as he was Director litigation Punjab, before being appointing PO of the commission.
Also raising questions of Justice Narang’s integrity, he alleged that in 2004, Justice Narang had “manipulated” the Chandigarh Administration to allot eight acres of prime land to his two sons — AS Narang and RS Narang - that was challenged through a Public Interest litigation (PIl).
“It was quashed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana on April 29, 2004, and subsequently also quashed by the Supreme Court on September 22, 2014,” he said.
Reported was scripted at CM residence even before it was constituted: BJP
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday alleged that the report of Justice Narang Commission ‘acquitting’ Punjab Minister Rana Gurjit Singh was scripted at the residence of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh much before the Commission was constituted.
“If Capt Amarinder is truly interested in bringing out the truth, he should hand over the probe of sand scam to the CBI...This would not only bring the truth out but also salvage the sullying image of his government and the Congress,” said the senior BJP leader and party’s national secretary Tarun Chugh.
Alleging that the report was likely to give “clean chit” to Rana Gurjit, a close aide of Capt Amarinder, Chugh said that employees working in the family concerns of the Power Minister including a Nepali cook Amit Bahadur had obtained mining rights worth over Rs 50 crore which was a clear cut case of ‘benami’ transactions and abuse of authority.
Chugh questioned as to wherefrom the cook and the other employees in question managed to pay such a huge sum to bid for sand mines. “The probe report would prove to be just an eyewash and a ploy to bail out Capt Amarinder’s blue-eyed Minister,” he said.
“Chief Minister, who rode to power with slogans of good and clean governance, has already indicated that he is was not here to fight corruption but is making all out efforts to shield the corrupt by throwing his weight behind the Minister who is actually caught ‘red-handed’ securing the mining rights through his own employees,” said Chugh.
Questioning Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s lengthy speeches against corruption, Chugh asked why the two were keeping mum on an issue which was damaging the image of their Government and the party.