Chandigarh property case: NRI alleges impersonation, UT top law officer roped in for probe

The HC bench passed the order after the 84-year-old filed a plea stating that a petition filed on July 8 using his name was not, in fact, filed by him.

The Punjab and Haryana high court has asked UT’s top law officer Pankaj Jain to ascertain facts into a case of ownership of a Sector-5 property wherein a former UN executive and NRI Padamjit Singh has alleged impersonation.

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The HC bench of justices Daya Chaudhary and Meenakshi Mehta passed the order after Singh filed a plea stating that a petition filed on July 8 using his name was not, in fact, filed by him.

The 84-year-old former UN executive lives in the USA. The property in question as per submissions in court is owned 50% each by him and family members of his brother.

Pankaj Jain, senior standing counsel, has been asked to verify the facts about the property ownership. He has also been asked to verify who authorized a lawyer to file the July 8 petition using Singh’s name. The lawyer, who had appeared in the July petition, has also been asked to cooperate for the probe.

Registrar (judicial) has been directed to keep complete record of the case in a sealed cover and restrained from allowing inspection of the file without permission. The construction, if any, being done at the property has also been stayed.

The July 8 plea had claimed that Singh never sold the 50% share of the property to a woman named Pritam Kaur. However, a fresh affidavit filed by Singh says that he has sold his share of property to the woman and that he had authorized none to file the July 8 plea. When the lawyer appearing in the July 8 petition was questioned, he told the court that the matter was brought to him by another lawyer and all requisite permissions to file the plea were obtained on mail, a fact denied by Singh in his latest plea.