Punjab cabinet meet deferred after minister-chief secy face-off

A major showdown between Punjab ministers and bureaucrats over the state excise policy resulted in postponement of a crucial cabinet meeting to be chaired by chief

A major showdown between Punjab ministers and bureaucrats over the state excise policy resulted in postponement of a crucial cabinet meeting to be chaired by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday.

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The meeting was deferred to Monday after all senior Congress ministers walked out over “abrupt remarks” made by chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh , according to the sources privy to the proceedings of the pre-Cabinet meet that was held at Punjab Bhawan here.

The meeting that brought to the fore a simmering discord between the ruling party leaders and bureaucrats was a stormy affair from the word go.

Technical education minister Charanjit Channi was the first to fire the salvo. “The new policy appears to be benefiting the contractors. While 70% of vends have been given to the existing contractors, there was no bidder for the remaining 30%. This could lead to decline in Rs 2,000 crore income from liquor this year. We are losing revenue every year. Who is responsible for this? Why can’t the responsibility of officers, who make such flawed policies, be fixed”, said Channi, as per a source who was present in the meeting.

To this, the chief secretary gave a “curt” reply that policies are implemented only after the approval of the cabinet ministers and certain suggestions cannot be incorporated in the new policy, said the source. This prompted a sharp reaction from Manpreet who said “if the officers have already made up their mind on the policy, what was the fun of discussing the matter with the ministers?”

Jails minister Sukhjinder Randhawa said the bureaucracy in Punjab was functioning as if there was a governor’s rule in the state, another source told HT.

Channi went on to say, “Take me on record and register my comment that policies are being made by officers and you consult us only for the sake of approval”. After this, the ministers walked out.

The unsavoury face-off sparked a flurry of reactions from Congress leaders, including known Amarinder-baiter and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa.

“Captain Amarinder Singh, I appreciate your efforts in trying to make the PM coordinate COVID activities with the CMs. It may help if you would offer the same courtesy to your own colleagues when it comes to affairs of Punjab,” he said.

Amrinder Raja Warring, Congress MLA from Gidderbaha, said, “Respected Captain Amarinder ji! This type of behaviour by chief secretary, time and again, is unacceptable. He has regularly disregarded our cabinet ministers and their decisions. I request you to remove him from this post immediately.”

Ludhiana Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said, “Ministers walking out of pre-Cabinet meeting after argument with chief secretary is like judge walking out of court after an argument with advocate. If they found bureaucracy to be incompetent, they should have replaced the officers and not staged a walkout. Ministers walking out should resign for their incompetence as many others capable of handling work pressure are ready to replace them.”

Besides the chief secretary, the meeting was attended by chief principal secretary to the chief minister,Suresh Kumar, and principal secretary to Amarinder, Tejvir Singh.

The officers tried to persuade the ministers to attend the meeting but they decided to leave, skipping the post-meeting lunch at the venue.

The others ministers present at the meeting were Vijay Inder Singhla, Balbir Sidhu, Tript Rajinder Bajwa, OP Soni, Brahm Mohindra and Aruna Chaudhary.

No minister was available for comments. Karan Avtar Singh did not respond to HT’s text messages.

When contacted, media adviser to chief minister Raveen Thukral refused to comment on the developments saying that he was not aware about any such issue.