M A I N   N E W S

CLU scam: Minister, 4 Cong MLAs in dock as Haryana Lokayukta orders probe
Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 1
Five Haryana Congress MLAs, including Health Minister Rao Narinder Singh, are in the dock in the Change of Land Use (CLU) scandal. The state Lokayukta today asked the police to investigate the case and report to it within three months.

The Lokayukta held the allegations of demanding money for granting the CLU permission as a prime facie fit case under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

Lokayukta Justice Pritam Pal directed the five sitting MLAs — Rao Narinder Singh (Narnaul), Chief Parliamentary Secretary Vinod Bhayana (Hansi), Jarnail Singh (Ratia), Ram Niwas Ghorela (Barwala) and Naresh Selwal (Uklana) — to appear before Additional Director General of Police V Kamaraj on October 22.

Sources said the case records will be sent to Kamaraj through chief secretary and the DGP to facilitate the inquiry. The Lokayukta’s decision is seen as a setback to the five MLAs seeking re-election on Congress ticket in the October 15 Assembly elections.

Earlier, the MLAs had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the locus standi of the Lokayukta in entertaining the case, claiming the case was not maintainable under the Haryana Lokayukta Act, and that they had done nothing wrong in their official capacity. However, the high court had referred the matter back to the Lokayukta.

The INLD had released CDs in September last year showing Congress legislators allegedly seeking illegal gratification in lieu of CLU permissions.

The charges