Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and 17 others were given a clean chit in the Amritsar Improvement Trust “scam” case. The case was filed by the Vigilance Bureau during the SAD-BJP regime.
What is Amritsar Improvement Trust 'scam'
It was alleged that Amarinder-led Congress government granted special exemptions for transfer of 32.1 acres of land belonging to Amritsar Improvement Trust to a private developer in his previous term (2002-07). Former deputy speaker of the Vidhan Sabha and the then MLA Bir Devinder raised the issue in the House in the last session of assembly in 2006. It was alleged that exemptions were granted in exchange of money. After Bir Devinder, who was a Congress MLA, raised the issue against his own party’s CM, it led to commotion in the House, compelling the then speaker Kewal Krishan to announce formation of a House committee to look into the allegations.
Probe into allegations
Devinder alleged that the committee was never formed and the speaker forged the Vidhan Sabha proceedings and tampered with records by adding that ‘a committee will be formed if House agrees.' Kewal Krishan and former ministers Raghunath Sahai Puri and Jagjit Singh were among those who were acquitted. When the SAD-BJP formed the government in 2007, it moved the case to the House privileges committee which found that records were tampered with. Thereafter, a special committee was formed and this committee ordered suspension of Amarinder as MLA; and a vigilance bureau probe was ordered.
On September 11, VB registered a case against 18 persons, including Amarinder. The agency on February 10, 2009 filed a challan in the special court. The VB said the scam caused a loss of £36 million to the state exchequer. And the investigation even concluded that the allegations pertaining to tampering with Vidhan Sabha records, misuse of power and illegality in exemption of land, tampering with Trust records and corruption had strong basis.
The final U-turn by VB
Amarinder filed a petition in the high court in 2012 for cancellation of FIR. He said the committee, which formed the basis of his suspension and the registration of the FIR, was biased against him. The high court did not cancel the FIR but ordered a fresh probe. A special investigation team conducted the fresh probe, and gave the clean chit to Amarinder while SAD-BJP was in power. “It’s a case where the investigation agency has been misused to get political gains,” said Bir Devinder.
