Chandigarh, February 4
The electoral battle in Punjab shifted to a city courtroom today as the Punjab Chief Minister’s son, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, also the general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal, filed a criminal complaint against Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarinder Singh for allegedly defaming him and his family through the publication of “defamatory” advertisements in newspapers last month.

In his complaint under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, filed before UT Chief Judicial Magistrate C.L. Mohal, Mr Badal claimed that the advertisements had wrongly conveyed that the Punjab Chief Minister had mortgaged the state’s interest in the SYL canal, besides the future of Punjab’s farmers, in favour of the Haryana Chief Minister in lieu of a gift of 22 acres in Gurgaon worth Rs 500 crore.

Giving details, he asserted that the advertisement had shown Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala handing over an allotment letter regarding the 22 acres in Gurgaon to the Punjab Chief Minister while he, in return, was passing a mortgage deed concerning the “SYL water”.

Claiming that the contents of the advertisement were false, malicious and contrary to the facts on record, he added that it was issued to mislead the public in the hope of getting votes and to lower the Punjab Chief Minister’s esteem, to defame him, and to damage his saviour-of-farmers image.

He further alleged that despite being called upon to desist from issuing such false advertisements, the PPCC president had clearly stated that he would continue with the practice. Mr Amarinder Singh had publicly owned responsibility for these advertisements, the complainant had added.

Regarding the land in Gurgaon, he claimed that the allotment was made after following due procedure. No favour was shown in the rate charged or by relaxing the procedures or other formalities. “Moreover, the allotment had withstood the scrutiny of the courts and nothing irregular had been found in the entire transaction”, he stated.

Going into the background of the case, Mr Badal said he was the managing director of Orbit Resort Limited and land measuring 17.75 acres situated in Udyog Vihar in Gurgaon was allotted to the company for setting up a holiday resort-cum-health spa. However, on January 2, 1995, an order was passed by the HSIDC resuming the plot. The petition against the resumption order was dismissed by a single Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, but, subsequently, a Division Bench quashed the resumption orders “relegating the parties to the same position as they were before the orders were passed”. The Special Leave Petitions filed in the Supreme Court, too, were disposed of in view of an undertaking by the company that the construction would be completed within two years. Public interest litigation challenging the allotment was also dismissed, the complainant elaborated.