Already behind bars in a corruption case, former Congress Minister and now a BJP leader Sunder Sham Arora has been booked by Punjab Vigilance Bureau in the industrial plot transfer case. The VB on Thursday registered a criminal case against Arora and 10 government officers or officials for transferring or bifurcation of an industrial plot to a realtor company and allowing it to establish a township by cutting plots.
In this case, three owners or partners of a realtor firm — Gulmohar Township Private Limited — have also been booked.
Vigilance, in this matter, has arrested seven officials of Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC), including Estate Officer Ankur Chaudhary, general manager (Personnel) Davinderpal Singh, chief general manager (Planning) JS Bhatia, ATP (Planning) Ashima Aggarwal, Executive Engineer Parminder Singh, DA Rajat Kumar, and SDE Sandeep Singh, “for conniving with each other to provide undue benefit to the realtor firm”.
The Bureau has 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 Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy at VB police station Mohali, against all the mentioned accused officers or officials of PSIDC and the former Minister. The vigilance would also investigate the role of other persons during the investigation.
Notably, on October 16 last year, the Vigilance Bureau had arrested Arora from Zirakpur while handing over a bag containing Rs 50 lakh to the state AIG, Vigilance, Manmohan Kumar allegedly to help in clearing his name from the ongoing inquiries against him, including a disproportionate assets case.
THE CASE
Going into the background of the matter, the spokesperson said that the then State Government, aiming to promote the industry, had allotted 25 acres of land to Anand Lamps Limited through a sale deed in 1987 which was later transferred to a firm, named Signify Innovations. “This plot was then sold to Gulmohar Township through a sale deed by the Signify Innovations after procuring ‘no objection certificate’ from PSIDC. On March 17, 2021, then Industry and Commerce Minister Sundar Sham Arora forwarded a letter to the then PSIDC managing director Neelima received from Gulmohar Township for further bifurcation of plots,” added the spokesperson.
The spokesperson informed that PSIDC MD constituted a departmental committee to examine the proposal of this realtor firm which included Executive Director SP Singh, Estate Officer Ankur Chaudhary, Bhai Sukhdeep Singh Sidhu, GM Personnel Davinderpal Singh, DTP Tejveer Singh (deceased), chief general manager (Planning) JS Bhatia, ATP (Planning) Ashima Aggarwal, Executive Engineer Parminder Singh, DA Rajat, and SDE Sandeep Singh.
The committee, headed by SP Singh, had approved the proposal of the said realtor firm to bifurcate plots from 12 to 125 plots without taking notice of proposal report, project report, articles of association, and memorandum of association in this regard. In addition, the said committee had recommended the proposal of Gulmohar Township without consulting Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Municipal Corporation, Electricity Board, Forest Department, State Fire Brigade etc.
During investigation by the Forensic Science Laboratory, it has been found that two pages of the noting on file didn't match with the rest of the pages attached in file. It was found that the said committee members have attached fake documents and didn't not scrutinized the said application or proposal thoroughly.
Spokesperson further added that according to the deed of 1987, the plot was to be used for industrial purposes only, and the Gulmohar Township has no such background.
Further, the spokesperson added that according to PSIDC rules, the fee for plots was to be charged at the rate of Rs 20 per yard and Rs three per year from 1987, which was a total fee of Rs 1.51 crore (1,51,25,000) for a total of 1.21 lakh (1,21,000) square yards.
It was astonishing that the accused firm had already attached pay order with the application while no one from the PSIDC had demanded it. Due to which, the Punjab Government has incurred a financial loss of Rs 1.23 crore (Rs 1,23,42,000).
Spokesperson added that during the probe, it was found that if this plot was to be sold as per the State Government’s instructions or rules, the Government would have got an income of Rs 600 to 700 crores. At the time of sale of 125 plots by Gulmohar Township, no proposal report, project report, articles of association and memorandum of association was demanded from any buyer party and sold all the plots illegally, added the spokesperson.
“By doing this, the committee members including the then PSIDC MD Neelima, former minister Sundar Sham Arora colluded with each other and misused their official positions to give unfair advantage to the owners or directors of Gulmohar Township Company Jagdeep Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Rakesh Kumar Sharma,” said the spokesperson.