Punjab government recommends to prosecute four former ministers

Chandigarh: The Punjab Cabinet has cleared the court proceedings in vigilance cases against four Congress ministers and the case will be sent to the Governor for final approval on August 23. Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan has already given approval for court proceedings against three MLAs and former MLAs, while approval to start trial in courts against four former ministers was pending.

The Vigilance Bureau has registered cases against former ministers Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Sunder Sham Arora, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and O P Soni on charges of corruption. The vigilance has submitted challans against these four former ministers in the courts, but the trial in the court will start only after the Governor gives final approval to initiate court proceedings against these former ministers on the recommendation of the Cabinet.

It may be recalled that the approval to initiate court proceedings against MLAs and former MLAs is given by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, while the approval against ministers and former ministers is given by the Governor on the recommendation of the Cabinet under Article 19 as the oath is administered to the ministers by the Governor.

It is learnt that the chief minister will send the file to the governor on August 23. The Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha had approved the court proceedings against MLA Amit Rattan, former MLAs Sattar Kaur Gahiri and Kiki Dhillon.

A case has also been registered against former MLA Madan Lal Jalalpur. The cabinet has even cleared the court proceedings against the above four former ministers and now the ball is in the governor’s court.