CHANDIGARH – Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his Deputy Chief Minister son Sukhbir Singh Badal are in the dock in the transport policy manipulation case.
Just over a month after The Tribune carried a series of news reports on manipulations in the state’s transport strategy to rev up profits of private bus operations, the Punjab and Haryana High Court put the two on notice.
The notices came soon after the Bench of Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina took judicial notice of an application filed by petitioner-cum-Barrister-at-Law Himmat Singh Shergill on the involvement of the Badals and their relatives in the transport sector.
Shergill had filed a petition in public interest on the basis of The Tribune exposé on how the transport policy has been manipulated to rev up profits of private players in Punjab.
As the case came up for hearing this morning, Justice Kumar, speaking for the Bench, asked Punjab Advocate-General Ashok Aggarwal whether he had gone through the third paragraph of the application.
Justice Kumar then read the paragraph in the open court. Already reported by The Tribune, the paragraph says Orbit Transporters Registered, Baaz Transporters Private Limited, Dabwali Transport and Real Estate Private Limited were all shareholders in Orbit Resorts Private Limited between September 2007 and September 2008.
