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Punjab Civil Services officers to go on 5-day mass casual leave from today
The Punjab Civil Services (PCS) Officers Association on Sunday decided to proceed on a mass casual leave for five days starting Monday to protest against their colleague’s arrest by Punjab Vigilance Bureau
The Punjab Civil Services (PCS) Officers Association on Sunday decided to proceed on a mass casual leave for five days starting Monday, i.e. January 9 to protest against the arrest of Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, RTA-Ludhiana in a graft case by Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB). The association members will convene another meeting on January 14 to review the situation and decide the future course of action.
Confirming the development, Dr Rajat Oberoi, president of the association said that the decision was taken following a meeting of PCS officers from across the state at a local club today. Around 80 officers from across Punjab were present at the meeting.
In the two-page long resolution, the association also stated that legal procedures under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act were not followed and demanded that the government should constitute a committee to investigate the illegal arrest of Dhaliwal seeking a report by Friday (January 13). The committee should include senior IAS officers of principal secretary rank as well as a PCS officer and representatives of the transport department.
The Punjab VB on Friday had arrested Dhaliwal, a PCS officer, on the charge of running an organised crime by collecting money as a bribe from transporters. The action was taken based on a complaint lodged on the CM’s anti-corruption helpline. A VB spokesperson had stated that the probe established Dhaliwal used to collect bribe money on a monthly basis through some private persons. It was found that in December, he received bribe money of ₹4 lakh, out of which he used ₹1,70,000 for himself, and the remaining bribe money was handed over to Punjab Home Guards (PHG) Bahadar Singh, attached with the said RTA. After the meeting, the association claimed that Dhaliwal neither demanded any bribe nor accepted it. Even if the story of the police is to be believed, why does a senior official of the level of RTA give a higher share of the bribe to the facilitator? questioned the association members, who did not wish to be named.
The union claimed that a similar case was registered against RTA-Faridkot Tarsem Chand and the allegation turned out to be false but no action was taken against those implicating the officer.
It was also resolved that a memorandum will be submitted to the chief minister regarding these demands of the association with a copy to the chief secretary, principal secretary (personnel), secretary (vigilance), and secretary (transport).
The association also said a complaint against the illegality of VB’s action will be submitted to the Police Complaint Authority (PCA) for taking action against RTAs in both cases. The association also expressed resentment over the lack of interest of the government in addressing their long-pending demands.
