Accused of misusing power,former Mohali MC chief moves HC

Senior advocate Ashok Aggarwal,counsel for Rana contended that the allegations leveled against Rana were totally false and concocted.

On June 11,2007,the Congress-backed MC chief was issued a show cause notice by the then principal secretary D S Bains for allegedly misusing power.

The then executive officer (MC) J S Thind has submitted a report,accusing Rana of transferring three civic employees without having the powers to do so. Rana was also accused of repeatedly postponing opening of sanitation tenders,which Thind had alleged affected the MC’s work.

Thind had recommended action against Rana as per relevant provisions of the Punjab Municipal Act.

In his reply,Rana had,however,refuted the charges while claiming that he had transferred the civic employees from only one seat to another within the MC,asserting he had the powers to do so.

He had also claimed that he had postponed the tenders only to bring about changes in the terms of the agreement to “introduce more competition” among the contractors.

After concluding the hearing of Rana and Thind in October 2007,Bains had kept the decision in the case pending. Principal Secretary to Punjab Department of Local Government,C Roul,however,reopened the case recently and after conducting a few hearings,finally took a decision in the three-year-old case. Rana moved the High Court against the removal of orders.