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Rajmeet Singh and Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 11
The Punjab Council of Ministers, at its meeting in the absence of Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, on Monday authorized the Prime Minister, Captain Amarinder Singh, to approve the amended excise tax policy.
Due to the confrontation between the ministers and the chief secretary, the government asked the latter to stay away from the meeting. Satish Chandra, Minister of the Interior, chaired the meeting.
By placing faith in the Chief Minister, who is also in charge of the Department of Excise, the cabinet ministers let him clarify the policy.
But Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and Technical Education Minister Charanjit Channi, along with others, said categorically that they would not, in principle, attend any meeting where the chief secretary was present.
The Chief Minister is known to have asked ministers to record their arguments on the Chief Secretary.
The sources said that with the Chief Minister asking the Council of Ministers to record that they had no faith in the Chief Secretary, problems are brewing for the top bureaucrat, who is retiring this August. More developments were expected soon on this front, sources said.
Incidentally, the Chief Secretary has been in charge of the Financial Secretary, Taxation, since December 31 of last year.
Sources said that after Manpreet, along with other ministers, registered their protest at the alleged behavior of the Chief Secretary, it emerged that the Chief Minister had told them it was wrong of him to withdraw from the meeting. They should have told officers about their reservation before suspending the meeting, he said.
Earlier in the day, the ministers had decided to address the issue of the Chief Secretary and the pro-contractor clauses at the cabinet meeting with the Chief Minister. This would have embarrassed the Prime Minister and the government.
On Friday, Manpreet, along with other ministers, withdrew from the meeting due to alleged comments by the Chief Secretary.
Meanwhile, Gidderbaha MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring took to Twitter to question the CS about “her son’s involvement in running a distillery in Kapurthala as a partner in a liquor contractor.”
“The license to operate the distillery cannot be sublet, since the country’s liquor quota is only in the name of the licensee,” he said.
He also alleged that the contraband liquor belonging to the liquor contractor’s company (which is a partner of the CS’s son) was captured and then released.
Manpreet later said the Chief Minister had been authorized to modify the excise policy in the wake of the 36 business days lost due to the curfew (between April 1 and May 6).
“The behavior of the CS in the last two days was not in line with the important office it has. Therefore, as part of an unofficial cabinet business, I put forward the proposal that I would not attend any meetings where the CS was present. My colleague Charanjit Singh Channi supported me. Later, the CM asked us to register it, after all the cabinet ministers unanimously supported us, ”he said.
Badal said the decision was not due to an ego crash, but had been made in “the highest interests of the Punjab state”.
Amid the clash between the Council of Ministers and the Chief Secretary, lobbying has already begun for the post of Chief Secretary. At least three senior Punjab box officers (1987 lot) are on trial.
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