Punjab Assembly passes Bill to empower Vigilance Commission
Darpan News Desk IANS, 30 Sep, 2022 10:14 AM
Chandigarh, Sep 30 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday moved the Punjab State Vigilance Commission (Repeal) Bill, 2022, that was passed unanimously.
Moving a resolution to this regard, Mann said that the main function of the Punjab State Vigilance Commission is to enquire or cause enquires into complaints alleging commission of offences by a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
He said the commission is also empowered to exercise superintendence and control over the functioning of the Vigilance Bureau and police establishment in so far it relates to corruption cases
Mann said the Punjab State Vigilance Commission Act 2020, which was supposed to be enacted on the lines of the Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003, suffers from serious deviations.
The Chief Minister said the Vigilance Commission constituted under this Act is, therefore, not serving any useful objectives except being a burden on the state exchequer.
He said as there are multiple agencies in the state to deal with same set stakeholders, including full-fledged Vigilance Department.
Therefore, Mann said to avoid overlapping, contradictory findings, resultant delays and gaps in communication, it has become necessary to repeal the Punjab State Vigilance Commission Act 2020.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had ordered a CBI probe into the death of Phogat. The move came after Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant recommended a CBI probe into the case as per demand of Phogat's daughter and people of Haryana.
The two-time chief minister of Punjab had fought the assembly elections in the state earlier this year in alliance with the BJP as well as Akali Dal (Sanyukt). His party - Punjab Lok Congress - though had failed to get even a single seat during the assembly elections.
During deliberations, the Chief Minister envisaged opportunities for mutual collaboration in business and solutions. He said that the alliance could provide on-field handholding to Punjab farmers in best practices of crop management.
Balkaur Singh, whose son was shot dead in daylight on May 29 close to his Moosa village in Punjab on May 28, had complained of uneasiness on Thursday night following which he was admitted to a private hospital in Patiala from where he was shifted to the PGIMER here.
Majithia told the media here that this was also necessary because the AAP government had neither made the FIR registered in this case public even after 24 hours, nor taken any action against any BJP leader or middlemen involved.
The matter came to the fore after the victim narrated the ordeal to her parents who rescued her and later approached the Women police station at Gurugram's Sector-51 and registered a case against the accused on Wednesday. The victim told the police that she had met Pooja at a Gurugram mall a month ago. Pooja had offered her a job at a doctor's clinic.
