CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Vidhan Sabha was Friday rocked by Amritsar Improvement Trust land scam report of which was tabled in the house indicting former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and three others. The Punjab Assembly was adjourned for the day, an hour ahead of scheduled time after the Congress rushed to the well and made loud protests  against the tabling of the report.

The land scam pertained to the tenure of the previous Congress government headed by Amarinder Singh. An inquiry into it was conducted by a 9-member Special House Committee of the current Vidhan Sabha which was constituted by Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon in January this year.

Interestingly, Captain Amarinder Singh himself had assured the hosue to probe the matter when raised in newspapers. However, a house committee later alleged that procerdings of the house were tampered with to eswcape the probe. Former minister Choudhary Jagjit Singh and former Vidhan Sabha Secretary Nachhatar Singh Mavi were indicted for tampering. The Congress party declared that they will not allow house to function unless report is withdrawn.

The Committee on land scam headed by Harish Rai Dhanda (SAD) in its report tabled in the House indicted Capt Singh, then then Local Bodies Minister Choudhary Jagjit Singh, the then Urban Development Minister, the late Raghunath Sahai Puri and Jugal Kishore Sharma, a former Chairman of the Amritsar Improvement Trust. The four have been found guilty of exempting 32.10 acres of Improvement Trust land in favour of a private developer for 'ulterior motives' by misusing their official positions thereby causing losses running into crores to the state  exchequer.

As soon as  Dhanda got up to table the report in the House, Congress members were on their feeting protesting the government action. They claimed that the government could not table the report as the matter was subjudice as Capt Singh, Choudhary Jagjit Singh and  Sharma had challenged the formation of the House commitee in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Capt Singh who was outside the House immediately rushed in alongwith some of his loyal MLAs and joined in the protest. Shouting slogans  against the government, the Congress members trooped to the well of the House and some of them even tried to advance towards the Chair but were pervented from doing so by the marshalls who were present in strength.

Barring Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and a few of his ministerial colleagues, the ruling members were also on their feet to counter the  slogan shouting Opposition members. The exchanges between the ruling and oppostion benches was not audable.

The Speaker adjourned the House for an hour after the Congress members refused to heed to his direction to resume their seats. Later after the House re-assembled the Opposition continued with their protest, leaving the Speaker with no other option but to adjourn the House for the day, an hour before schedule.

Later talking to mediapersons outside the House, Leader of the  Opposition Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and Capt Singh questioned the legality of the government in tabling the report. They maintained that the government could not table the report as the issue was subjudice and quoted certain judicial cases to support their contention.

Bhattal stated that they had challenged the formation of the Committee in the High Court, so the matter could not be brought forth in the House. " The case (land deal) came up for discussing in the 12th Vidhan Sabha in 2006 and hence it could not be taken up again by the present House", she claimed that the intention of the government in tabling the report was 'malafide'.

Bhattal very clearly stated that they would not allow the House to function if the government does not withdraw the report.  Countering the claims of the Congress,  Dhanda said that Capt Singh and others had challenged the legality of the formation of the 9-member Committee. " The Court has not restrained the Committee from going ahead with the inquiry", he said while addressing mediapersons in the Press Lobby of the assembly.

He maintained that the inquiry was held within all legal parameters and the Committee had tabled the report in the House after seeking clearance from the Speaker. Capt Singh, the then Chief Minister had given an assurance in the House in 2006 that an inquiry would be conducted into the land scam after the matter was highlighted by Bir Devinder Singh, then a Congress MLA.

Dhanda pointed out that an inquiry was never conducted during the tenure of Capt Singh and it was the present House that had decided to conduct an inquiry and in January this year the Speaker had formed a 9-member House Committee which consisted of three Congress members. The Congress members--Sher Singh, Randeep Singh
Nabha and Harminder Singh Jassi had in their  dissenting notes pointed out that the Committee could not inquire into the matter as the issue was subjudice, he added.

Dhanda said that Capt Singh had appeared before the Committee and he too had pointed to the case pending in the High Court and had refused to answer questions pertaining to the land scam. Capt Singh's only attempt was to scuttle the inquiry so that the truth cannot be brought before the House, the Committee noted in its report.

Dhanda made it clear that the inquiry report had only indicted Capt Singh and his colleagues and had not made any suggestion on the action to be taken against them for cheating the state government of crores of rupees. " The quantum of punishment will be decided by the House", he added.