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HINDUSTAN TIMES, CHANDIGARH

TH U RSDAY, JU LY 0 9, 2 0 1 5

Pirzada helped kin roll in money

UNDER LENS VB report says ex-IAS officer used influence and position to help his relatives create assets worth crores
Chitleen K Sethi

fgsdfk@hindustantimes.com

CHANDIGARH: Amidst the ongoing

fierce conflict between former

IAS officer Gurnihal Singh
Pirzada and promoters of some
of the companies he allegedly
help float the Punjab vigilance
bureau has in a detailed inquiry
outlined the manner in which
the Tamil Nadu-cadre officer
used his good offices to help
his relatives and friends generate business and create assets
worth crores.
The vigilance bureau had
submitted its inquiry report to
the Punjab and Haryana high
court in May this year. Its copy
has been procured from the VB
through the right to information
(RTI) Act.
Though a large part of the
VB report deals with the inter
se dispute-- as mandated by the
high court-- a section of the
report lays bare how the 1982batch officer operated. However,
despite its observations and
findings, the VB has not recommended any action against the
officer. VB sources say Pirzada
cannot be moved against as he
retired four years ago and action
is now time- barred.
MODUS OPERANDI
VB states that when Pirzada
was posted as managing director of Punjab State Electronics
Development and Production
Corporation Limited (PSEDPCL)
from 1998 to 2001, he was ex-officio the chairman of two companiesMitgard India Limited

LEFT PARTIES
PROTEST
OUTSIDE CMS
RESIDENCE
HT Correspondent

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

CHANDIGARH: Office-bearers of
Left parties CPI, CPM, CPM
(Punjab) and CPI-ML (liberation) here on Wednesday held
a sit-in protest outside the residence of Punjab chief minister
Parkash Singh Badal.
The parties demanded the
CMs intervention in pressing
the BJP-led NDA government
to scrap the anti-farmer land
acquisition bill.
About 100 office-bearers of
Left parties, who gathered for a
symbolic protest, also demanded
that the recommendations of
the Swaminathan commission
report be implemented in true
spirit so that agriculture could
become a profitable avocation.
The parties leaders said the BJP
had promised in its poll manifesto to implement the commission report.
CPI state secretary Hardev
Singh Arshi said Communist
parties were also united against
the mafia raj in Punjab as
everything, including cable network, sand, land and transport,
was controlled by the mafia. The
protesters also demanded that
the old-age pension be increased
to Rs 3,000 per month from the
current Rs 250.

PROTESTERS WANT
RECOMMENDATIONS OF
THE SWAMINATHAN
PANEL REPORT BE
IMPLEMENTED IN TRUE
SPIRIT SO THAT
AGRICULTURE COULD
BECOME A PROFITABLE
AVOCATION

(MIL) and Magnetic Information

Technology (MIT) promoted by
one Bachitter Singh Sidhu. The
companies had been allotted
industrial plots numbers 100
and 101 in phase VIII in Mohali.
MIT remained a chronic
defaulter as far as payment
of lease money of plot no. 100
was concerned. MIL was also
irregular in paying installments
of other plot no.101 to its creditors, says the report. Pirzada
using his influence and position
as MD of the corporation helped
Sidhu by permitting him to sublease plot no. 100 to Infosys at the
rent of ` 3.50 lakh per month. In
2000, Pirzada signed as witness
on the lease deed, without taking
the approval from the board of
directors of the corporation.
In 2001, MIL transferred
its rights in plot no 101 to
Inter national Customers
Related Management Services
(ICRMS), a company floated by
Pirzadas relatives and friends.
ICRMS was set up at the behest
of Pirzada, states the report.
PIRZADA HASTENED
TRANSFER OF PROPERTY
As MD of the corporation,
Pirzada cleared all files regarding the transfer of property
B-101 to ICRMS. He approved
the free holding of the plot from
lease holding. ICRMS further
leased the plot to Mahindras on
23-06-2001--four days after the
incorporation of the ICRMS--for
10 years on rent of Rs. 4.7 lakh
per month. Pirzada then facilitated transfer of this plot from
MIL to ICRMS on 25-06-2001, two

PIRZADAS DEFENCE
GS Pirzada was examined during the
inquiry and his detailed statement was
recorded. Pirzada stated that after his
retirement in 2011, he was looking after
his ancestral farm and had no other
occupation. He added that he was staying with his mother-in-law Harkesh
Kaur who had taken House No. 59,
Sector 4, Chandigarh, on lease from FHPL. Regarding fund flow
into ICRMS and the three companies, FSPL, FRPL and FHPL, he
said its through banking channels from sources that cannot be
even remotely connected to him or his family. Everything is
transparent, he said. Pirzada said he or his family members
have never misappropriated any funds from any of these firms.

NO RULES TO NAIL BUREAUCRATS FOR

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Following the Pirzada episode, the VB is considering suggesting addition of a clause related to conflict of interest in the
conduct rules. VB sources say that in many cases bureaucrats
sign on files which lead to direct or indirect benefit to them.
Also, misuse of confidential information for their own benefit should be added to the list of what all is considered misconduct in the rules, say VB sources.

days after ICRMS leased out

property to Mahindras.
Interestingly, the Industrial
Finance Corporation of India
(IFCI), which had loaned
money to MIL, issued an NOC
for transfer of the property
on 23.8.2001 whereas the property had already been transferred to ICRMS on 25.6.2001.
S u r p r i s i n g l y, t h e N O C
mentioned on the note dated
25.6.2001 for transfer of property is missing from the records
of the corporation, states
the report.

PUNJAB INFOTECHS
CLEAN CHIT TO PIRZADA
The VB report, adds that it
wrote to the corporation (now
Punjab Infotech) to clarify if any
violation of the then prevailing
policy had occurred during the
transfer of this plot. In response,
the Punjab Infotech told the VB
that no specific violations of the
then prevailing policy had been
indicated, adding that similar
transfers had been allowed by
Pirzada for many other plots.
The VB, however, said, An
examination of the subsequent

events and all the surrounding

circumstances makes it apparent that Pirzada had some role
to play in floating and running of ICRMS through his
friends and relatives. However,
he never held any shares in the
company at any point in time. It
further appears that he used his
position as MD of the corporation to hastily clear all official
approvals for the resolution of
all problems pertaining to plot
no. 100 and 101. There is also
some evidence to suggest that
Pirzada had a self- interest in the
sale/transfer of property B-101
to ICRMS.
PRIME PROPERTY
BOUGHT USING
COMPANY FUNDS
ICRMS made it big when it got
the work of consolidating land
for a housing project for realty
giants DLF in Mullanpur in 2005.
ICRMS received funds of about
`411 crore from sister concerns
of DLF. Of these funds, ICRMS
forwarded `17 crore as unsecured loans to three companies
--- Fateh Soft Tech, Fateh Homes
and Fateh Resorts created
in 2006 and run by Pirzadas
close relatives. The assets in
the shape of prime immoveable
properties purchased by these
companies out of unsecured
loans received from ICRMS and
are presently in the possession
of Pirzada and his family, adds
the report.
The properties include: 10
acres in Mullanpur Garibdass,
Mohali bought by Fateh Resorts,
over 10 acres in village Seonk,

Mohali bought by Fateh Soft

Tech and a six-kanal house in
Sector 4, Chandigarh, where
Pirzada now lives bought by
Fateh Homes. VB found that
the Mullanpur land is used for
private functions and parties.
Information collected from
office of AETC (excise) Mohali
eleven L-50 permits (liquor)
has been issued in the name
of Gurbakshish Kaur, mother
of Pirzada mentioning as family functions, but signatures
of Gurbakshish Kaur on the
applications do not match with
each other.
The end beneficiary of
the assets in these companies is Pirzada and his family.
Enquiries could not establish
any direct money investment
by Pirzada, but only loans from
ICRMS to the three companies.
The promoter directors of
ICRMS are close associates or
relatives of Pirzada. He has
been closely associated with
ICRMS right from the time it
was floated to its business deals
which is clear from the enquiry
conducted and the various statements recorded. The routing of
funds from ICRMS to different
entities owned by relatives
and friends of Pirzada clearly
points towards the relationship
between them.
Certain direct and
indirect monetary benefits have been obtained by
Pirzada from these companies,
which indicates his relationship with these persons who
own these entities, concludes
the report.

Punjab has no water to spare: Capt

Implement welfare
schemes: Sukhbir

Harkirat Singh

CHANDIGARH: Punjab deputy chief

minister Sukhbir Singh Badal

on Wednesday gave a call to
chairpersons of all boards and
corporations to ensure implementation of welfare schemes.
The boards and corporations
play a vital role in providing
self-employment and all efforts
should be made to implement
state welfare schemes in true
spirit, he said on the occasion
of Surjit Singh Ablowal assuming the charge of chairman,
Punjab Tourism Development
HTC
Corporation.

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

ATTARI (AMRITSAR): Congress dep-

uty leader in the Lok Sabha Capt

Amarinder Singh on Wednesday
said Punjab didnt have a single
drop of extra water to spare for
other states, including Haryana.
Come what may, we are not
going to let anybody take a single
drop of water from our state,
the former chief minister said
while addressing a well-attended
mass contact rally at a marriage
palace in the Attari assembly
constituency on Wednesday.
Referring to a recent statement of Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar that he
will press for the completion of
the Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal
(SYL), Amarinder said northern states, including Haryana,
Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh
and Punjab, were getting water
as per water-sharing agreements
inked in 1955 and 1977 and there
was no extra water in Punjab to
spare for anybody.
We can neither afford nor
allow even a single drop of water
to flow out of our state, said
Amarinder, adding that during
his tenure as the chief minister
he had annulled all past water
agreements and even now he
wont fail to take a legal recourse
if the need arose.
QUESTIONS PUNJAB CMS
LEADERSHIP QUALITIES
F laying chief Minister
Parkash Singh Badal for not
responding to Khattars statement, the Amritsar MP said
Badal neither had the guts nor
the ability to question the claims
of his Haryana counterpart on
water sharing.
He (Badal) doesnt possess the necessary leadership
qualities or else he would have
reacted to Khattars statement,
he added.
Badals leadership qualities were also questioned by
Sunil Jakhar, Congress legisla-

Amritsar MP and Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Captain Amarinder Singh addressing
a rally as part of his mass contact programme in Attari on Wednesday.

ture party (CLP) leader in the

Punjab assembly, in his speech.
Drawing a comparison between
Amarinder and Badal, Jakhar
pointed out that the Punjab
CMs love for power prevents
him from standing up for the
rights of people of Punjab.
However, Maharaja sahib
(Amarinder) did not bother
about his chair or his party,
which was in power at the
Centre, when he annulled all
past water agreement during
his tenure. But Badal will never
do such a thing as he wants to
cling onto power and does not
want to annoy Prime Minister
Narendra Modi or the BJP,
Jakhar claimed.
Amarinder also questioned
Badals silence over the proposed

move by the central government

to do away with the minimum
support price (MSP) regime. He
suggested that the chief minister should approach the Prime
Minister to ensure that the Food
Corporation of India (FCI) does
not stop purchase of wheat and
paddy on MSP.
ISSUES STRICT WARNING
TO MAJITHIA
Addressing a meeting of
Congress workers at the Majitha
grain market, Amarinder promised to make revenue minister
Bikram Singh Majithia pay for
the atrocities he and his men
had committed against Congress
workers, particularly in the
Majitha assembly segment,
which the minister represents.

A I I M S F O R B AT H I N D A

Sampla urges CM
to rethink move
Ravinder Vasudeva

ravinder.vasudeva@hindustantimes.com

JALANDHAR: The Punjab govern-

ments decision to set up the

All Indian Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) in Bathinda
as against its earlier proposal to
start the premier health institute
in Kapurthala district is likely to
result in a face-off between the
Shiromani Akali Dal and its alliance partner BJP, with leaders
of the saffron party from Doaba
urging chief minister Parkash
Singh Badal to rethink the move.
Union minister of state for
social justice and empowerment Vijay Sampla, in whose
parliamentary constituency,
Hoshiarpur, the project was
earlier announced, has urged
the CM to intervene and end the
controversy.
It is the chief minister who
has to take the final call over
selection of site for any project
sanctioned by the Centre. As a
Union minister, I do not have any
right to intervene in this. But
as an elected representative, I
have expressed my desire to set
up AIIMS in my constituency,
said Sampla, while talking to HT
from Delhi.
This comes after CMs daughter-in-law and Union minister
Harsimrat Kaur Badal played a
key role in taking AIIMS to her
home constituency.
In a statement issued in
Jalandhar, Sampla said he would
again urge Badal to have a sympathetic view on this in his next
meeting with the chief minister.
Fo r m e r m i n i s t e r a n d
Jalandhar Central MLA
Manoranjan Kalia, who was
the first BJP leader to oppose
the decision to shift the upcoming institute from Kapurthala,
said, I am not saying that AIIMS
should come up in Jalandhar
or Kapurthala. We do not have
problem if it comes in Bathinda
as such. But the government
should take all pros and cons in
mind and then finalise the site
which is easily approachable for
all people from across the state,
said Kalia.
Doaba is in the centre of
Punjab. People coming from
Majha and Malwa would have an
easy access to AIIMS if it comes
up here. We urge the chief minister to take the final decision after
listening to all views on this. We

Vijay Sampla

are not against Bathinda but

the wisdom should prevail,
said BJP legislative leader in
Vidhan Sabha and forest minister Chunni Lal Bhagat.
It has been learnt that senior
BJP leaders from the district
are likely to hold a meeting on
Friday in Jalandhar to chalk
out the partys strategy over
the issue.
SAD DEFENSIVE ON ISSUE
Bholath MLA Bibi Jagir Kaur,
in whose constituency the institution was proposed earlier, said
the chief minister has taken a
decision to announce the project
for Bathinda as it needs better
healthcare because of high
prevalence of cancer in the
border belt.
The Punjab chief minister
knows better than anybody else.
AIIMS was not sanctioned for
Kapurthala districts Ramidi
village (part of Hoshiarpur
parliamentary seat) and it was
only one of the sites selected
for it. I dont know why people
are politicising the issue? she
questioned.
CONGRESS ADOPTS
AGGRESSIVE POSTURE
To oppose the decision,
Congress workers held a dharna
outside the deputy commissioners office in Jalandhar.
It is a matter of great shame
that the Badal family is misusing the mandate of the people
to take away all major projects
to Muktsar and Bathinda.
There is not a single government hospital providing
quality healthcare here that can
cater to the needs of the poor
in Doaba and Majha, said
party spokesperson Sukhpal
Khaira.

HT PHOTO

Amarinder said he (Bikram)

w i l l n o t b e abl e t o e n t e r
Majitha when the Congress
comes to power after the 2017
assembly polls. This is democracy and not dictatorship
Your time is up. The countdown
has begun and you will soon run
for cover as I will make you pay
for all your sins and excesses you
committed on our people, said
Amarinder.
Amarinder also took a dig
at Majithias sister and Union
minister Harsimrat Kaur
Badal for her allegations t
hat the Congress MPs family
had money stashed in foreign
banks.
Tell me where is the money,
and I promise, I will give you all
that money, he said.

Punjab govt ready for PMC says cant disclose money

coporate farming model collected as registration fee
Press Trust of India

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI: Inviting the industry

to invest in farming, Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on

Wednesday suggested that corporate farming can be adopted
with farmers continuing to hold
ownership and cultivation rights
of land.
Under corporate farming,
ownership of land will remain
with the farmer and he can also
cultivate it. At the same time, the
industry can help farmers with the
latest technology and techniques
and as a result, they will get produce as per their requirements,
the food processing minister
said at a Confederation of Indian
Industires (CII) conference.
This will also ensure that the
farmer gets a decent guaranteed
remuneration, she added. The
minister said the Punjab government is ready to implement corporate farming on a trial basis.
If the corporate farming model

works out in Punjab, where

industry acts as a partner, it can
be tried in other states also, she
said. Industry will prosper if
only the farms prosper, because
farm produce is ultimately
the raw material for the food
processing industry. Hence, the
industry needs to strengthen the
backward and forward supply
chain integration, she said.
FSSAI MUST FOCUS ON
INNOVATIONS: HARSIMRAT
Expressing concerns over
fear in the food processing
sector following the regulatory
steps taken by the Food Safety
and Standards Authority of
India (FSSAI), Harsimrat said
the regulator needs to streamline its provisions and stress on
innovations in the sector.
The FSSAI has created environment of fear in the industry.
It needs to streamline its regulations as its steps are stopping
innovations in the processing
sector, she said.

Vandana Singh

vandana.singh@hindustantimes.com

LUDHIANA: Punjab Medical

Council (PMC), a statuary
body established under an act
of law, has denied disclosing the
amount it has collected as fees
for new registrations or renewal
of registrations of doctors
under the Right to Information
(RTI) Act.
The council also said it cant
take any action against unregistered medical practitioners.
A registered doctor and a
senior medical officer in Punjab
Health Systems Corporation
(PHSC) Dr Daler Multani had
filed an RTI query seeking information on the total amount collected as registration fee by the
PMC between January 1, 2014 to
December 31, 2014 and for what
purpose it was being utilised.
PMC, in its reply, said: It is
a financial matter and a proper
audit is being done by a char-

PHSCS DR DALER
MULTANI HAD FILED AN
RTI QUERY SEEKING
INFORMATION ON THE
TOTAL MONEY
COLLECTED AS
REGISTRATION FEE BY
THE PMC BETWEEN
JAN 1 TO DEC 31, 2014
tered accountant. We pay full
income taxyou are a third
party in it, hence information
cannot be given.
Dr Multani has now filed
another RTI application, in
which he has asked the public
information officer (PIO) and
registrar of the council Dr
Manjit Kaur Mohi to explain
that when he is registered with
the council and has paid registration fee, how could he be a
third party?
PMC also maintained a stoic

silence on questions pertaining

to steps it has taken to control
quackery or any action taken
against unregistered medical
practitioners in Punjab, claimed
Dr Multani.
In reply to his first question,
PMC asked him to contact the
director health and family welfare. On action against unregistered medical practitioners, the
council said it was not under its
preview.
PMC president Dr GS Grewal,
however, said: PMC has nothing to hide. The income of the
council can be disclosed under
the RTI Act. Ill look into the
matter, he said.
On quackery, Dr Grewal said,
We cant initiate a crack down
on quacks on our own. But if a
complaint comes to us we can
lodge a first information report
with the police as quackery is
a criminal offence. We can
also write to the department
concerned.

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