Chandigarh: A day after the state government informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it will withdraw its notification regarding the dissolution of over 13,000 gram panchayats, the AAP government in Punjab on Friday suspended its two senior IAS officers for taking a “technically-flawed” decision.
The suspended officers are D. K. Tiwari, Financial Commissioner, Rural Development, and Gurpreet Singh Khaira, Director, Rural Development. The action against them has created furore in bureaucratic and political circles.
A copy of the file was in circulation on Friday morning that showed it having signs of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the Rural Development Minister Laljit Bhullar and both IAS officers.
Meanwhile, the Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has questioned the government that why action has been taken only against officers and the minister has been spared.
Responding to the row, a spokesperson for the Chief Minister’s Office said the Chief Minister and the minister only approved “what the officers had put on the file. They were not informed by the officers that the due processes before declaration of elections and dissolution of panchayats were not followed by the officers”.
“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?” he said.
Appearing before the Bench headed by Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha, Advocate-General Vinod Ghai on Thursday informed that the notification of dissolving the panchayats would be withdrawn in a day or two.
Earlier, the government defended the decision in the court, saying the gram panchayats were functioning not as per constitutional provision.
Eleven writ petitions were filed by representatives of the panchayat, questioning the decision to dissolve it.
One of the petitions stated that the gram panchayats have been dissolved under Section 29-A of Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, over five months prior to the completion of the five-year term.
The government had dissolved over 13,000 panchayats in the state, with civic body elections to be held in November.
