BJP leaders meet Governor, seeks probe against Rana Gurjit Singh

CBI, ED, IT and NIA should be asked to register independent cases into alleged sand mining scam
Party rejects one man Judicial Commission announced by Punjab CM
Chandigarh, May 30, 2017: A delegation of Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party leaders today met Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore and demanded a probe into the alleged sand mining scam allegedly involving state Cabinet Minister Rana Gurjit Singh along with Amit Bahadur, Kulvinder Paul and Balraj Singh. The BJP leaders sought independent registration of cases by the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Dept and National Investigating Agency (NIA).
The delegation, comprising of former state president and ex-cabinet minister Madan Mohan Mittal; state vice-presidents Harjit Singh Grewal and Iqbal Singh Lalpura; state general secretary Manjit Singh Rai; and, state secretaries Vineet Joshi and Vijay Puri outrightly rejected the purported Judicial Commission ordered by Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh. BJP leaders feared that owing to his position in the state government and his political status in the Congress, Irrigation and Power minister Rana Gurjit Singh, can certainly influence the probe.
Addressing the media after meeting the Governor, state party secretary Vineet Joshi said “At the very outset it is a proved case of shadow/proxy biding by Punjab Cabinet Minister Rana Gurjit Singh to capture mining business through his men by taking undue advantage/ misusing/abusing his government position and further it is a case of corruption, breach of trust and clash of interest. Moreover, it is a violation of the oath taken in the name of Constitution of India by Rana Gurjit Singh while assuming office of the Cabinet Minister”.
Second, it is a case of benami transactions where persons with insignificant incomes are depositing crores of rupees into government exchequer, added Joshi.
Joshi said that the source of benami transactions will lead to money laundering and Hawala transactions. He said that the huge unaccounted money exchanged into many hands is a potential threat to national security.
“Any Commission which is not headed by a sitting high court judge cannot be called as Judicial Commission. So, it is a simple Commission constituted under the Commission of Inquiry Act and by naming it as a Judicial Commission, the Chief Minister is trying to mislead the people of Punjab”, he said.
The state party secretary further said that the announcement of an inquiry commission by Punjab CM is akin to establishing the validity of the allegations/news published in the various news dailies.
“As it is a proved case of corruption, benami deals and Hawala transactions, the agencies which are competent to investigate are CBI, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department. His Excellency is hereby requested to order the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Dept and the National Investigating Agency (NIA) to register independent cases and bring guilty to book’, said Joshi.
It may be recalled here that on May 29, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had ordered the setting up a one man judicial commission to probe the allegations of impropriety against Irrigation & Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh in the multi-crore sand mining auctions conducted recently by the state government.
The inquiry would be conducted by Justice (Retd) J S Narang and he would submit his report within one month. The terms of reference for the inquiry commission, formed under the Commission of Inquiry Act, would be notified soon.
The Minister has meanwhile offered to resign in order to ensure a free and fair investigation into the matter. The chief minister has however, asked Rana Gurjit to continue till the outcome of the judicial probe.
Asserting his stand of zero tolerance to corruption, the Chief Minister had announced his decision to set up a Judicial Commission after taking suo motu cognizance of media reports charging the minister with acquiring certain mines in the names of his company’s staff.
Though Rana Gurjit has denied any links of his company, Rana Sugars Limited, with the auctions, and has categorically stated that his company has no stake, direct or indirect, in the sand mining business, the Chief Minister decided, in the interest of ethics and propriety, to get the matter probed at the highest level to ensure total transparency.
There was no question of allowing any deviation from his government’s avowed policy of providing clean governance, said Captain Amarinder, adding that he would take all steps to ensure that there is no violation of the trust reposed by the people of Punjab in his government and the Congress party.
The two-day sand auctions, in which these bids are alleged to have been secured, related to 50 mines and they have already generated a revenue of nearly Rs. 300 crores, leading to the highest ever earnings from the mining sector for the state government. According to a government spokesman another 56 mines would be put to auction on June 11 and the government is expecting to generate another Rs 300 crores from them. It's worth mentioning that the state government's revenue from the mine auction last year was merely Rs 40 crores.