At least 100 industrial plots were allowed bifurcation, 40 plots in Mohali alone under the year 2005 policy, the Punjab and Haryana high court has said while quashing a criminal case against former Congress minister, Sunder Sham Arora, an IAS officer and 10 others.
The FIR was registered by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on January 5, 2023. Besides Arora, IAS officer Neelima and 10 other officials were named as accused in the case. There were allegations of ‘wrong bifurcation’ of a 25-acre plot for setting up a township in Mohali’s Phase 9 industrial area. According to the allegations, it was done allegedly to benefit a realty firm ‘Gulmohar Township Private Limited’, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.
The order was passed by the high court on December 20 and a detailed judgment has been made available now.
The high court bench of justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu said that there are numerous instances in the state where bigger plots were bifurcated/fragmented into smaller plots and no criminal proceedings were initiated by the vigilance bureau in any other case.
“Thus, the petitioner(s) have been selectively targeted and victimized while misusing the powers by the Vigilance Bureau for the reasons best known to them,” it said while noting that under the February 2005 policy, at least 100 plots were permitted to be bifurcated/fragmented by the PSIDC/PSIEC.
{{/usCountry}}“Thus, the petitioner(s) have been selectively targeted and victimized while misusing the powers by the Vigilance Bureau for the reasons best known to them,” it said while noting that under the February 2005 policy, at least 100 plots were permitted to be bifurcated/fragmented by the PSIDC/PSIEC.
{{/usCountry}}The court also said that the vigilance bureau initiated the probe on the basis of a pseudo complaint made by one “Navjot Singh-Congressman”, whose identity/credentials are not known till date. This complaint was made “just to victimise” the petitioners for “ulterior motive and extraneous reasons”. The state chief vigilance commissioner also failed to exercise due diligence while not verifying the identity/credentials of the complainant, it added.
The bench put it on record that the vigilance bureau, while misusing its powers, registered the FIR, without there being any basis, just to “harass and humiliate” the petitioners. Commenting on allegations against Arora, the bench recorded that the then minister had merely solicited a report from the MD, PSIEC about the pending cases of bifurcation/fragmentation and there is not even a “whisper” that said communication of 2021 was about only this plot. Hence, petitioner Sunder Sham Arora did not extend any favour to a particular person, including Gulmohar Township; rather, he had asked for the information from MD, PSIEC, in a routine manner in his official capacity. “Above all, mere calling of report from MD, PSIEC by the minister concerned does not constitute a criminal offence; nor any mens rea (criminal intent) can be attributed to either of the petitioners,” it said.
The former minister and others had approached the high court in April 2023 seeking quashing of the FIR.
The vigilance bureau had registered the case under Sections 13 (1) (a) and 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act besides criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy, claiming that had they sold the land as per the rules, the government would have got a revenue of ₹600 crore to ₹700 crore. The plot was allotted 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 Punjab Small Industries Export Corporation (PSIEC), when Arora was the minister.