Former Punjab Chief Secretary Sarvesh Kaushal and two other retired senior IAS officers have been given clean chit in the multi-crore irrigation scam after a detailed inquiry by Vigilance Bureau failed to find concrete evidence substantiating allegations against them.
Kaushal along with former special chief secretary KBS Sidhu and former irrigation secretary Kahan Singh Pannu were named in the alleged scam involving fraudulent allotment of state water projects worth over ₹1,000-1,200 crore during the SAD-BJP regime (2007-2017).
As per the allegations and complaints, tenders were allegedly tailor-made to favour a primary contractor, Gurinder Singh, in connivance with top department officials and politicians, causing massive losses to the state exchequer.
The Vigilance Bureau investigated the matter and found no corroborative evidence to prove corruption in the case. Consequently it filed a status report before the Punjab and Haryana high court on August 10, in compliance with the court's May 15 order directing the state to complete the inquiry within 15 days.
The HC passed the direction after noting that the inquiry, initiated following approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, had remained pending for more than three years.
No evidence found
The VB's report stated that its scrutiny did not yield evidence to substantiate the allegations against the three retired bureaucrats. The inquiry, registered as vigilance inquiry No. 08 on September 29, 2022, was conducted by the bureau's flying squad. Permission to investigate the three officers was granted in 2022 by then Punjab chief secretary BK Janjua.
The report attached to the affidavit states that the inquiry was registered solely on the basis of a disclosure statement made by accused Gurinder Singh on 21 December 2017. An FIR was filed on 17 August 2017 during the investigation.
The VB found that none of the amounts allegedly mentioned in the disclosure statement were recovered. Furthermore, it noted that the disclosure statement was not part of the challan in the FIR. The inquiry report observed that without any recovery, the disclosure statement did not provide sufficient evidentiary basis to proceed against the three retired officers.
Alok Mathur is a law graduate. Journalism is his first love which he now pursues in the latter half of his career. Controversies and crime are the right triggers for him.
