HISSAR India: In a bold move, the Haryana police have registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the Union Minister for Environment, Mr. Bhajan Lal, for possessing property disproportionate to his known sources of income. It has been reliably learnt that the case has been registered in Sadar police station under FILR. No. 372, dated November 21. Sections 151 and 155 of the IPC have also been applied to the case; this is probably for the first time that a case under this act has been registered against a Union Cabinet Minister. ‘The case has been registered in response to a memorandum submitted to the Chief Minister, Mr. Devi Lal, by Mr. Dharam Pal Singh who unsuccessfully contested the Adampur Assembly seat against Mrs. Bhajan Lal. It has been alleged in the FALR. prepared on the basis of the memorandum that Mr. Bhajan Lal owned property worth several crores of rupees and that all his property was purchased afire he became a minister in 1959 a major part of it having been acquired between 1979 and 1986 when he was Chief Minister of Haryana. The F.LR. Says that Mr. Bhajan Lal owned a palatial bungalow No, 1028 in Friends Colony in Delhi, valued at 75 lakhs. He also owned sprawling farm house in Chattarpur village near Delhi worth 75lakh rupees, besides he has a house valued at rupees 15 lakh in a village in Gurgaon district. These properties were given to Mr. Bhajan Lal by the colonizers who were shown favour in granting the licenses. The memorandum says that Mr. Bhajan Lal is also building house worth rupees 50 lakhs in the name of his son in sector 15 at Hissar. Besides members of his family own over 20 prime residential plots in various towns of Haryana. Six of these were allotted out of discretionary ‘quota of the Chief Minister. It has been alleged that Mr. Bhajan Lal has purchased agricultural land in Hissar district which has been undervalued to evade stamp duty and other charges. The memorandum also says that Mr. Bhajan Lal and his relatives owned petrol pumps, cinema houses, and hundreds of acres of agricultural land in Hissar and Sirsa districts. It gives details of the property.
Mr. Likhi Ram Poonia on whose order the case was registered and a detailed investigation ‘was ordered, was not available for comment. It is learnt from highly placed sources that a senior officer will investigate the case and conduct raids at different places to collect evidence. According to legal experts the Haryana government will have to obtain the permission of the President R. Venkatraman to arrest Mr. Bhajan Lal. But if the arrest has to be made in Haryana, the State government will have to seek permission from the Governor, S.M.H. Burney.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 27, 1987
