The state government which claims to pursue a zero-tolerance policy against corruption now faces a litmus test with the National Green Tribunal imposing about Rs 46 lakh fine on the states’s former director general of police BS Sidhu for fraudulent purchase of reserved forest land and axing of trees on it in Dehradun. Stating this, activist and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravinder Jugran said that there were at least five serious cases against Sidhu when the departmental promotion committee (DPC) met and approved his name for the post of DGP. Despite complaint being made to the chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and the CM also ordering necessary action, the state’s bureaucracy has continued to defer action in this regard for years now. Addressing the media at the Press Club here on Wednesday, Jugran who had approached the high court and supreme court regarding various allegations levelled against Sidhu, said that the state bureaucracy has put the state government’s zero tolerance for corruption on the backburner.
The fine imposed on the former DGP is just a glimpse of the major anomalies in the state’s administrative set-up. He said, “Even before Sidhu was appointed the DGP, there were at least five allegations of serious crimes including a ticket racked when he was commissioner of Railway Protection Force in Mumbai, a disproportionate assets case and sexual harassment levelled against him.
He should not have been selected for the post but he was, which raises questions at the functioning of the state administration. After the case of fraudulent purchase of reserved forest land and axing of trees on it came to light, he misused his position as the DGP and lodged a case against forest department officials. The NGT decision has made it clear that he misused his position. This is now a litmus test for the state government which claims to be pursuing a policy of zero tolerance for corruption. So far, no case has been registered in the case against Sidhu for the fraudulent purchase of nine bigha of reserved forest land in Dehradun and misusing his position. A lady principal in Mussoorie has also accused him of fraud, misuse of position and sexual harassment but for the past two years her complaint has been with DIG Pushpak Jyoti though no FIR has been lodged in it yet. It now remains to be seen whether the State government passes this litmus test and does the needful against such blatant anomalies by such top officials,” said Jugran.