Two IAS suspended after withdrawing order to dissolve more than 13 thousand panchayats in Punjab

Chandigarh (IANS). Two senior IAS officers were suspended a day after the state government informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court about withdrawal of its notification regarding dissolution of over 13 thousand gram panchayats.

Suspended officer D.K. Tiwari is Financial Commissioner, Rural Development and Gurpreet Singh Khaira is Director, Rural Development.

A copy of the file was in circulation on Friday morning, bearing the signatures of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Rural Development Minister Laljit Bhullar and both IAS officers.

Meanwhile, the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has questioned the government as to why action has been taken only against officials and the minister has been spared.

Responding to the controversy, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that the Chief Minister and the Minister approved only what the officials had on file. This was not followed by the authorities.”

He said, “As soon as the Chief Minister was made aware of the lapse in the notification, he ordered its withdrawal. How can he be responsible for the actions of the officials?”

Appearing before the division bench headed by Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha on Thursday, Advocate General Vinod Ghai said that the notification to dissolve the Panchayats will be withdrawn in a day or two.

Earlier, the government had defended the decision in the court saying that the Gram Panchayats were not working as per the constitutional provisions.

Eleven writ petitions were filed by the representatives of the Panchayat questioning the decision to dissolve it.

A petition said that under Section 29-A of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act, gram panchayats have been dissolved five months before the completion of their five-year term.

The government had dissolved more than 13,000 panchayats in the state with the civic body elections scheduled in November.