HC judge recuses himself from hearing PIL alleging corruption by sitting cabinet minister in Punjab

Read Order: Dinesh Chadha and others v. Union of India and others 

Vivek Gupta

Chandigarh, July 15, 2021: Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Justice Arun Palli today recused himself from hearing a public interest litigation alleging corruption by a sitting cabinet minister in Punjab.

The PIL came up for hearing before the Bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha and Justice Arun Palli.

“List this petition of which one of us (Arun Palli, J.) is not a member on 23.07.2021,” stated the order of the division bench.

The petitioner, Dinesh Chadha from Punjab’s Ropar area, claimed that the case involved a matter of grave public concern whereby a present cabinet minister in Punjab government managed and manipulated the government machinery in taking compensation again and again for the same land. 

It was done in the garb of dual acquisition proceedings by concealing the fact of earlier acquisition proceedings, the PIL claimed.

It further alleged that now when the entire scam and fraud has been unearthed as per the state government’s own high power committee report, the state government officials are sitting as “puppets and helpless creatures in the hand of mighty and powerful, least they will themselves be facing the wrath in case they dare to take any criminal action against the minister concerned and his family members”.

The fact of the case, as mentioned in the petition, is that in 1962 Punjab acquired 12 acres of land belonging to the minister and his family for construction of the Ferozpur-Fazilika road.

The family accepted the compensation but in 2000 by taking advantage of old revenue entries, the minister with an intention to defraud the government of Punjab and also with the intention to mislead the court, filed the suit to take possession of the land that the state acquired in 1962, the plea claimed.

In 2007, for lack of averment on part of government officials, the suit was decreed in favour of the minister, claimed the petitioner while adding that there was no serious effort to challenge it in the higher courts.

In 2008, the minister filed a writ petition praying that he was not given compensation for the acquisition. On the high court’s direction, the then Superintendent Engineer, without examining the record properly, took a decision to re-acquire the land and awarded compensation amounting to Rs. 1.83 crore.

The minister concerned, as per the petitioner, did not stop here as he filed the petition for re-determination of the acquisition compensation in 2015. It was during this exercise that the fraud came into the light.

The PIL claimed that Punjab in 2020 formed a committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary to verify the facts with regard to the bogus exercise being conducted leading to the same piece of land belonging to the minister being acquired twice. Now the minister was seeking release of further compensation through contempt proceedings.

In LPA 126 of 2021 dated February 2, 2021, the court stayed the contempt orders filed by the minister for not following the redetermination of the land compensation passed by additional session judge in 2015, appreciating the plea of the state acknowledging the fraud in this case.

Even though the high-powered committee of the state government submitted a report in this regard, no action has been taken so far, claimed the petitioner.