The news may spell doom for Deputy Commissioner Sumer Singh Gurjar but Chief Secretary Ramesh Inder Singh has confirmed receiving a note on Gurjar’s alleged involvement in accepting bribes from arrested Ludhiana West Tehsildar Arvind Parkash Verma.

The Chief Secretary said: “I have received the note and the required measures will be taken.” For Gurjar, the development comes as a bolt from the blue. He has been facing charges of corruption from various quarters and got a breather recently when Division Commissioner Jasbir Singh Bir gave him a clean chit over the cracker-stall controversy.

Deputy Speaker Sat Pal Gosain had leveled charges of corruption, nepotism and favouritism against Gurjar over the allotment of cracker stalls last Diwali claiming that he (Gurjar) had allotted the stalls in lieu of bribes.

Meanwhile, the Vigilance Bureau’s note regarding the Division Commissioner, which is based on the confessions made by Verma states that the DC, along with two other officials of the district administration worked in collusion with him and also received regular bribes.

Verma was arrested last September in a bribery case. A senior official of the VB however, added: “Confessions made to the police are not admissible in the court. We have, however, sent the information to our higher ups and will proceed as guided by them.”

The Deputy Commissioner was also present at the function but he refused to comment.

CS asks registrars to resume work
Chief Secretary (CS) Ramesh Inder Singh has asked the striking revenue officials to join work. The district naib tehsildars and tehsildars had gone on a protest leave last week after the Vigilance Bureau had swooped on Mullanpur Dhakha tehsildar Salinder Singh and caught him red-handed accepting a bribe. It has been over five days that the revenue officials in the district are not reporting to work.

In town to attend a function, the Chief Secretary said, “A delegation comprising tehsildars had come to meet me this morning. They presented the case of Salinder Singh. I assured them that after a thorough probe, the truth will come out. Till the time, I have urged the striking employees to resume work.”

The Chief Secretary, however, added, “It is common knowledge that the image of the revenue offices in the state is not very good.”

The striking officials claim that the VB had trapped Salinder Singh and sought the transfer of VB SSP Kanwarjit Singh. The local striking officials, meanwhile, received support from Patiala revenue officers who too stayed away from work. The striking revenue officials held a meeting with Divisional Commissioner Jasbir Singh Bir, here yesterday, to resolve the issue.

Owing to the strike, it is the general public that is facing a lot of harassment. The offices which witness long queues every day don an empty look. The work pertaining to registries and other documentation has also been stalled.