Chandigarh, May 13 (IANS) The face-off between the Punjab legislature and the administration over liquor policy intensified with a Minister here on Wednesday coming out in support of Congress legislators, demanding a probe into the Excise Department revenue losses in the past three years.
A day earlier, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh was divested of the charge of Financial Commissioner (Taxation) as Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s colleagues, led by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, announced to boycott a meeting attended by the bureaucrat.
The charge against the Chief Secretary is his son’s stake in the liquor business.
Sukhjinder Randhawa, a Minister, demanded an inquiry into the revenue losses in the Excise Department. “I agree with Amarinder Singh Raja and appeal Chief Minister Punjab Amarinder Singh to initiate enquiry into the revenue loss to the Excise Department for the last three years,” he said.
Randhawa also tagged Gidderbaha legislator Amarinder Singh Raja’s tweet, which said: “Dear Capt Amarinder Singh, it’s my humble request to kindly also initiate enquiry against Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh on revenue loss of over Rs 600 crore.”
Raja also demanded that the Chief Secretary be removed for holding a free and fair probe.
Randhawa, Jail Minister, was among the Ministers who last week staged a walkout against the Chief Secretary at a pre-Cabinet meeting for his alleged misbehaviour over the revision of the excise policy.
Joining chorus against the Chief Secretary, Congress legislators Raj Kumar Verka, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Kulbir Singh Zira and Barinder Singh Pahra also demanded probe.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister has approved the excise policy for this financial year with compensation to the liquor contractors for the losses incurred during the lockdown.
After this, liquor contractors opened their vends on Wednesday. The government has left it on contractors the option to supply liquor at the customers’ doorsteps.
On Tuesday, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief and former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal demanded registration of an FIR either against the Chief Secretary or the Ministers over allegations of conflict of interest in the liquor ‘loot’ in the state.
He said the people must know the real issue behind the collision between the Chief Secretary and the Ministers and the Congress leaders, who accused the senior officer of being “corrupt and arrogant”.
“Instead of making a laughing stock of the high constitutional institutions of the cabinet and the Chief Secretary, time has come for taking a concrete legal view and penal follow-up on allegations of liquor loot,” Badal said.
Badal alleged the Congress leaders were trying to “legalise” the illegal home delivery of liquor, which continued during the lockdown.
–IANS
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