Ex-minister Sunder Sham Arora, IAS officer Neelima, 10 others booked for transfer of 25-acre plot for township

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 5

The Vigilance Bureau on Thursday registered a case against former minister Sunder Sham Arora, IAS officer Neelima, besides 10 government officers/officials for the transfer/bifurcation of an industrial plot to a real estate company and for allowing it to establish a township by cutting plots.

Three owners/partners of Gulmohar Township Private Limited have also been booked. The VB has registered a case under Sections 13 (1) (a), 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC at the VB police station in Mohali, Punjab, against all mentioned accused officers/officials of committee members of the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC), Neelima and former minister, besides three directors of Gulmohar Township.

The case

• In 2021, then Industries Minister Sundar Sham Arora had forwarded a letter to the then MD of the PSIDC from Gulmohar Township for further bifurcation of industrial plots
• The MD set up a panel that allegedly approved the proposal to bifurcate plots — from 12 plots to 125 — without taking note of proposal report, project report, articles of association and memorandum of association

The VB has arrested seven officials of the PSIDC, which includes 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 firm.

A VB spokesperson said aiming to promote the industry, the Punjab Government had allotted 25 acres 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 Signify Innovations after procuring a no objection certificate from the PSIDC. On March 17, 2021, then Industries and Commerce Minister Sundar Sham Arora had forwarded a letter to the then MD of the PSIDC received from Gulmohar Township for further bifurcation of plots.

He said the MD had 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 (deceased), DTP; 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 the firm to bifurcate plots, from 12 plots to 125, without taking notice of proposal report, project report, articles of association and memorandum of association. The said committee had recommended the proposal of Gulmohar Township without consulting Punjab Pollution Control Board, Municipal Corporation, Electricity Board, Forest Department, State Fire Brigade etc.

During 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 didn’t scrutinise the said application/proposal.

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 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 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 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 said 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 crore. At the time of sale of 125 plots by Gulmohar Township, no proposal report, project report, articles of association and memorandum of association were demanded from any buyer and sold all plots illegally.

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

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