Two IAS officers suspended after Punjab govt withdraws order to dissolve over 13,000 panchayats

By IANS

CHANDIGARH: A day after the state authorities knowledgeable the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it will withdraw its notification concerning the dissolution of over 13,000 gram panchayats, the AAP authorities in Punjab on Friday suspended its two senior IAS officers for taking a “technically-flawed” resolution.

The suspended officers are D. Okay. Tiwari, Financial Commissioner, Rural Development, and Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Director, Rural Development. The motion in opposition to them has created a furore in bureaucratic and political circles.

A duplicate of the file that was in circulation on Friday morning confirmed it had the signatures of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the Rural Development Minister Laljit Bhullar and each IAS officers.

Meanwhile, the Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has questioned the federal government as to why motion has been taken solely in opposition to officers and the minister has been spared. A spokesperson for the Chief Minister’s Office stated that the Chief Minister and the minister solely authorized “what the officers had put on the file. They were not informed by the officers that due processes before the declaration of elections and dissolution of panchayats had not been followed by them”.

“As soon as the Chief Minister was apprised about the flaw in the notification, he ordered its withdrawal. How can they be responsible for the actions of the officers?” the spokesperson requested.

Appearing earlier than a bench headed by Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha, Advocate-General Vinod Ghai on Thursday knowledgeable that the notification of dissolving the panchayats could be withdrawn in a day or two.

Earlier, the federal government defended the choice within the court docket, saying the gram panchayats had been functioning not as per constitutional provision.

Eleven writ petitions had been filed by representatives of the panchayat, questioning the choice to dissolve it.

One of the petitions acknowledged that the gram panchayats had been dissolved beneath Section 29-A of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, greater than 5 months previous to the completion of the five-year time period.

The authorities had dissolved over 13,000 panchayats within the state, with civic physique elections to be held in November.

CHANDIGARH: A day after the state authorities knowledgeable the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it will withdraw its notification concerning the dissolution of over 13,000 gram panchayats, the AAP authorities in Punjab on Friday suspended its two senior IAS officers for taking a “technically-flawed” resolution.

The suspended officers are D. Okay. Tiwari, Financial Commissioner, Rural Development, and Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Director, Rural Development. The motion in opposition to them has created a furore in bureaucratic and political circles.

A duplicate of the file that was in circulation on Friday morning confirmed it had the signatures of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the Rural Development Minister Laljit Bhullar and each IAS officers.googletag.cmd.push(perform() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); );

Meanwhile, the Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has questioned the federal government as to why motion has been taken solely in opposition to officers and the minister has been spared. A spokesperson for the Chief Minister’s Office stated that the Chief Minister and the minister solely authorized “what the officers had put on the file. They were not informed by the officers that due processes before the declaration of elections and dissolution of panchayats had not been followed by them”.

“As soon as the Chief Minister was apprised about the flaw in the notification, he ordered its withdrawal. How can they be responsible for the actions of the officers?” the spokesperson requested.

Appearing earlier than a bench headed by Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha, Advocate-General Vinod Ghai on Thursday knowledgeable that the notification of dissolving the panchayats could be withdrawn in a day or two.

Earlier, the federal government defended the choice within the court docket, saying the gram panchayats had been functioning not as per constitutional provision.

Eleven writ petitions had been filed by representatives of the panchayat, questioning the choice to dissolve it.

One of the petitions acknowledged that the gram panchayats had been dissolved beneath Section 29-A of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, greater than 5 months previous to the completion of the five-year time period.

The authorities had dissolved over 13,000 panchayats within the state, with civic physique elections to be held in November.