Three IAS officers to be chargesheeted; 4 SE suspended: Navjot Singh Sidhu

CHANDIGARH: Four Superintending Engineers (SE) in Punjab have been suspended and three IAS officers will be charge sheeted in connection with the allotment of civil works on a single bid, the state's Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said here today.

He said out of work orders of Rs 800 crore, Rs 500 crore were allotted on a single bid.

"Four SEs have been suspended for not following the procedure and Municipal Corporation laws in allotting civil works in the municipal corporations (MC) of Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar," Sidhu said.

He said three IAS officers who had allegedly approved these work orders while being the Commissioners of these municipal corporations will also be charge sheeted in this regard.

These IAS officers are Sonali Giri, G S Khera and Ghanshyam Thori, said Sidhu.

"We will prepare a charge sheet against these IAS officers and send it to the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary for further action," said the minister.

Giri, Khera and Thori were the then Commissioners of MC of Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana respectively.

The SEs who have been suspended are P K Goel (MC Amritsar), Kulwinder Singh (MC Jalandhar), Pawan Sharma and Dharam Singh (MC Ludhiana).

The vigilance team of the local bodies department had found that the large number of work orders were awarded based on single bid in MC Amritsar, Sidhu said.

Then the scope of inspection was extended to MC of Ludhiana and Jalandhar where the civil work orders for year 2016 were inspected, said Sidhu.

Among major deviations, Sidhu said the MC Act 1976 was violated wherein the house resolution was must for any work order above Rs 25,000 while the approval of F&C committee of respective MC was also not taken.