Health Minister’s brother Jiti Sidhu accused of transferring Shamlat land

Health Minister’s brother Jiti Sidhu accused of transferring Shamlat land

Deri village land case: High Court stays Financial Commissioner’s orders regarding land transfer

YAD demand for a probe into multi-crore Shamlat land scam by CBI or former High Court judge

Harshabab Sidhu
Nabaz-e-Punjab Bureau, Mohali, October 14:
The case of exchange of land worth crores of rupees in village Deri of Mohali constituency of Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu has reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, wherein the High Court has stayed the permission to exchange granted vide order dated June 9, 2020 issued by the Commissioner Finance Punjab.
Addressing a press conference here today Youth Akali Dal District Mohali Urban President Parvinder Singh Sohana and Baljit Singh, a resident of village Deri said that the exchange of about 43 kanals of Gram Panchayat in their village was done by Health Minister’s brother Amarjit Singh Jiti Sidhu’s partner Paras. Mahajan, who is a partner in the private firm Land Chester Infrastructure Associates, has been given valuable land of shamlat which is abutting the airport road and which is worth crores, has now boards and flags of the said firm.
Parvinder Sohana said that the land of village Deri with which the land has been transferred, about more than five acres of the land adjoins the Airport Road while the land owned by Paras Mahajan is adjacent to the village Deriwala Choa. The market value of the land adjacent to this chow was very low and the land is low lying. Baljit Singh filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the Shamlat land scam in which the court had stayed the order vide which permission to exchange was granted by the Financial Commissioner, he informed.
Youth Akali Leader Parvinder Sohana said that in order to benefit the said firm and its partners ,the officials worked during lockdown and granted illegal permissions. The entire exchange is against the interest of villagers, he added.
He demanded from the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and senior officials of Panchayat Department and GMADA that probe of shamlat land exchange should be handed over to CBI. He also demanded that the multi-crore Shamlat land scam should be immediately inquired into and a high-level inquiry should be held by the CBI or a former High Court judge.
Meanwhile, the younger brother of the Health Minister Amarjit Singh Jeet Sidhu termed all the allegations as baseless and politically motivated and said that the transfer of land was done as per government norms. He said that the road was constructed from the panchayat land of village Deri and there was 20 to 30 feet of Shamlat land on both the sides of the road. The land of another village falls in front of that due to which they have to go through Panchayat land to enter their own land. He said the land has been transferred under the conditions of the government. Jiti Sidhu, “The lands of some builders also falls in the same area and they too have been transferred land under the same law but the Akali leaders are deliberately targeting me and my family.”