The investigation pertaining to illegal properties allegedly owned by high-ups in the citys periphery is all set to be handed over to a judicial tribunal. For,the Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked senior lawyer Arun Jain,the amicus curiae,to suggest the terms of reference for the Tribunal. The amicus was today asked to suggest the scope of probe for the tribunal. Showing little hope of a fair investigation by the State investigating agency,the High Court today made it clear that it was in favour of handing over the probe to a tribunal which would be headed by a retired Supreme Court/ High Court Judge who will be assisted by a District and Sessions Judge. The name of Justice (Retd) Kuldeep Singh,Supreme Court Judge,was today suggested by the division bench for chairmanship of the proposed Tribunal. The Bench asked the amicus curiae to suggest more names and also to consult Justice Kuldeep Singh and apprise the Court if he (Kuldeep Singh) was ready to head the tribunal. The amicus has been asked to submit the same by Tuesday. During the resumed hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to investigate the alleged illegal properties owned by high-ups,the amicus curiae also pointed out certain discrepancies in the investigation reports submitted by the Punjab government. He agreed that the probe should be handed over to a Judicial Tribunal. At present,the case is being investigated by Punjab Police. After the investigation conducted by Chander Shekhar,retired Punjab Director General of Police (DGP),the government had constituted a special investigation team (SIT). Equating the gravity of the case with the infamous 2G spectrum case,the High Court had opined on the last dates of hearing that the investigation should be handed over to a judicial tribunal. This was observed since the names of several high-ups including those at the helm of affairs had figured in the investigation reports submitted by the government from time to time. However,on the last date of hearing the Punjab government had apprised the Court that it has given a clean chit to the majority of high-ups in the case. Seven persons were in the possession of government/ public land. The Punjab government has submitted that land in possession of all other individuals was never government/public land. It was found that about 60 most influential persons,including Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and DGP Sumedh Singh Saini,had acquired land in the area. However,a clean chit was given to them and several other high-ups by the State. The governments report,along with an affidavit of chief secretary Rakesh Singh on the last date of hearing,had stated that in the case of these seven VIPs,shamlat deh/ shamlat deh hasab rasad jar khewat has been mutated in favour of the VIP,either directly or through a series of buyers and sellers. The list includes the names of retired IAS officer J S Kesar,former SSP Gurcharan Singh Pherurai,retired DSP Surjit Singh,daughter-in-law of Balwant Singh Ramoowalia Surjit Kaur,retired Chandigarh SP Baldev Singh,DSP Mukhtiar Singh in joint ownership with another police official Gurmeet Singh and Daljit Singh Dhillon,son of Lal Singh,a retired IAS officer.
