Punjab Vigilance Bureau registers case against ex-minister Sunder Sham Arora, IAS officer Neelima in corruption case

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has arrested seven officials of the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC).

Chandigarh: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Thursday registered a criminal case against former minister Sunder Sham Arora, IAS officer Neelima and 10 government officials for transferring an industrial plot to a realtor company and allowing it establish township by dividing plots. Three owners of a realtor firm, Gulmohar Township Private Limited have also been booked in connection with this case.

The VB has arrested seven officials of Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC) which included Ankur Chaudhary Estate Officer, Davinderpal Singh GM Personnel, JS Bhatia chief general manager (Planning), Ashima Aggarwal ATP (Planning), Parminder Singh Executive Engineer, Rajat Kumar DA and Sandeep Singh SDE for conniving with each other to provide undue benefit to the realtor firm.

A spokesperson of the state VB on Thursday said that aiming to promote the industry, the Punjab Government had allotted 25 acres of land to Anand Lamps Limited through a sale deed in the year 1987 which was later transferred to a firm named Signify Innovations. This plot was then sold to Gulmohar Township through a sale deed by Signify Innovations after procuring a no-objection certificate from the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC).

In March 2021, the then Industry and Commerce minister Sundar Sham Arora forwarded a letter to then MD PSIDC received from Gulmohar Township for further bifurcation of plots. He further informed that the MD PSIDC has constituted a departmental committee to examine the proposal of this realtor firm which included SP Singh Executive Director, Ankur Chaudhary Estate Officer, Bhai Sukhdeep Singh Sidhu, Davinderpal Singh GM Personnel, Tejveer Singh DTP, (deceased), JS Bhatia chief general manager (Planning), Ashima Aggarwal ATP (Planning), Parminder Singh Executive Engineer, Rajat DA, and Sandeep Singh SDE.

The committee headed by SP Singh had approved the proposal of above said realtor firm to bifurcate plots from 12 plots to 125 plots without taking notice of the proposal report, project report, articles of association, and memorandum of association in this regard. In addition to this, the said committee had recommended the proposal of Gulmohar Township without consulting the Punjab Pollution Control Board, Municipal Corporation, Electricity Board, Forest Department, State Fire Brigade etc.

During the investigation by the Forensic Science Laboratory, it has also been found that two pages of the noting on file didn`t match with the rest of the pages attached in the file. It was found that the above-said committee members have attached fake documents and did not scrutinize the said application/proposal thoroughly. The spokesperson further added that according to the deed of 1987, this plot was to be used for industrial purposes only and the said Gulmohar Township has no such background.

He further added that according to the rules of the PSIDC, the fee for plots was to be charged at the rate of Rs. 20 per yard and Rs. 3 per year from the year 1987, which was a total fee of Rs.1,51,25,000 for a total of 1,21,000 square yards. It was astonishing that the accused firm had already attached a pay order of Rs 27,83,000 with the application while no one from the PSIDC had demanded it.

Due to this, the Punjab Government has incurred a financial loss of Rs. 1,23,42,000. He informed that during the probe it was found that if this plot was to be sold as per the instructions/rules of the state government, the government would have got an income of 600 to 700 crores. At the time of the sale of 125 plots by Gulmohar Township, no proposal report, project report, articles of association, or memorandum of association were demanded from any buyer, and sold all the plots illegal.

He informed that by doing this, the above committee members including Mrs. Neelima, then MD, and former minister Sundar Sham Arora colluded with each other and misused their official positions to give an unfair advantage to the owners/directors of Gulmohar Township Company Jagdeep Singh, Gurpreet Singh, and Rakesh Kumar Sharma.

In this regard the VB has registered a case under section 13 (1) (a), 13 (2) of the prevention of corruption act and 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of IPC at VB police station Mohali, Punjab against all the above mentioned accused officers/officials of committee members of PSIDC, Neelima and former minister besides three directors of Gulmohar Township. The role of other persons would also be investigated during the investigation, he said.