AMARINDER SINGH Vs. SPECIAL COMMITTEE PUNJAB VIDHAN SABHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Appellant was the Chief Minister of the State of Punjab during the 12th Term of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. THE Appellant was duly elected as a member of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for its 13th Term.

(2.) THE Punjab Vidhan Sabha on 10th September, 2008 passed a resolution which directed the expulsion of the Appellant for the remainder of the 13th Term of the same Vidhan Sabha. This resolution was passed after considering a report submitted by a Special Committee of the Vidhan Sabha (Respondent No. 1) on 3rd September, 2008 which recorded findings that the Appellant along with some other persons (Petitioners in the connected matters) had engaged in criminal misconduct. THE Special Committee had itself been constituted on 18th December, 2007 in pursuance of a resolution passed by the Vidhan Sabha. It had been given the task of inquiring into allegations of misconduct that related back to the Appellant's tenure as the Chief Minister of the State of Punjab during the 12th Term of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. More specifically, it was alleged that the Appellant was responsible for the improper exemption of a vacant plot of land which was licensed to a particular private party (measuring 32.10 acres) from a pool of 187 acres of land that had been notified for acquisition by the Amritsar Land Improvement Trust on 5th December, 2003. THE Amritsar Land Improvement Trust is a statutory body which had notified the plan for acquisition in pursuance of a developmental scheme, as contemplated under Section 36 of the Punjab Land Improvement Act, 1922. Earlier, on 23rd June, 2003, a private party (M/s. Veer Colonizers) had applied for a licence under Section 5 of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1995 to develop the abovementioned plot of 32.10 acres which was situated in the proximity of the Amritsar-Jalandhar road. At the time of the colonizer's application for a development licence, the said plot was not covered by any acquisition scheme, though it had been covered by two schemes in the past which had lapsed by then. After the notification of the scheme, the colonizer approached the concerned authorities, seeking an exemption from the proposed acquisition of land. Subsequently, on 7th October, 2005, the Amritsar Land Improvement Trust granted a No- objection certificate, thereby permitting the exemption of the said plot of 32.10 acres from the scheme for acquisition. This decision to exempt the said plot of 32.10 acres was notified by the State Government on 13th January, 2006 under Section 56 of the Punjab Town Improvement Act. Since, the Appellant was serving as the Chief Minister of the State at the time, it was alleged that the decision to exempt the plot was an executive act that could be attributed to him.

(3.) THE Special Committee submitted its report on 3rd September, 2008 which was presented to the House on 5th September, 2008. THE report included findings that Captain Amarinder Singh (former Chief Minister, Appellant in Civil Appeal No. 6053 of 2008), Choudhary Jagjit Singh (former Local Bodies Minister, Petitioner in Writ Petition (Civ.) No. 443 of 2008), Late Sh. Raghunath Sahai Puri (former Housing Minister, since deceased) and Sh. Jugal Kishore Sharma (former Chairman of Amritsar Land Improvement Trust, Petitioner in Writ Petition (Civ.) No. 442 of 2008) had been involved in "corruption, conspiracy to cause wrongful loss and abuse of public office" in relation to the exemption of land from the above-mentioned acquisition scheme. It must be noted that out of the four individuals named in the report, only Captain Amarinder Singh was elected as a member of the 13th Punjab Vidhan Sabha. After considering these findings, the Punjab Vidhan Sabha passed the impugned resolution on 10th September, 2008 which is extracted below: