CHANDIGARH, July 25: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has booked a chief fngineer (CE) of the Public Works Department and director of Family Welfare for corruption and forgery, respectively after preliminary inquiries established the charges against them.

Bureau sources said, a case has been registered against Patiala-based CE Gurmail Singh Bhatwa for possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and incurring expenditure beyond his means over a period. The case has been registered under sections 13 and 13(1) E of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The Family Welfare director, Punjab, Puran Singh Jassi has been booked under sections 419, 420, 267, 468 and 471 of IPC, according to a vigilance official. All these sections pertain to forgery and cheating etc.

Elaborating, he disclosed that Jassi had fraudulently got 10 acres of land meant for Dalits in Gonsgarh village in Samrala sub-division of Ludhiana district allotted in the name of then district welfare officer, Prabhdyal Singh during 1966 at the rate of Rs 10,000 per acre. The allottee did not know anything about this allotment as his signatures were forged and the price was paid without his knowledge.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.