Jaswant Singh Gandam
PHAGWARA: On a writ petition filed by Phagwara Corporation Mayor Arun Khosla in Punjab and Haryana High Court, Punjab Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and six others have been summoned by the High Court on March 28 for interfering in the functioning of Phagwara Municipal Corporation.
Others summoned include former Punjab minister and three-time Phagwara Congress MLA Joginder Singh Mann, PPCC General Secretary Harjit Singh Parmar, Phagwara Block Congress Committee(Urban) President cum councilor Sanjeev Bugga and senior Congress leader Satbir Singh Sabhi, besides Additional Chief Secretary, Local Bodies and Phagwara Corporation Commissioner.
Taking up the matter, a single judge bench of Justice Jitendra Chauhan issued notice to these for appearing before the Court on March 28 next year.
The petitioner Arun Khosla alleged that Sidhu visited Phagwara on April 21 last year and set up a four-member committee of Congress leaders for inquiring into transactions conferring ownership rights on tenants under a policy. The Commissioner called a meeting of the ‘unconstitutional and illegal’ committee which studied a report submitted by an assistant commissioner before taking certain decisions.
The petitioner, through Counsel HC Arora, contended that the committee set up by the minister was unconstitutional and illegal. It could be set up only under Section 42 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, he contended. Besides, such panels could only be departmental and not political, he argued. The party panel, under the name of SIT or Audit panel, had no locus standi, he argued.
BJP’s Phagwara MLA Som Parkash and Corporation Mayor Arun Khosla told reporters that a defeated Congress candidate Joginder Singh Mann was misusing powers through backdoor while sitting MLA and Mayor were being sidelined.
