By Gaurav Sharma
New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) One of the accused in Delhi's multi-crore land scam in 2007, who allegedly allotted plots to fictitious people and sold them at exorbitant rates and was accused of cheating and criminal conspiracy, continues to be director in the Delhi government's sensitive Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) despite his deputation having expired way back in 2008.
IANS has access to documents which show that the six-year deputation term of S.N.S. Sidhu, who is currently director (Administration and Law) in DUSIB, expired on June 3, 2008, and no extension has been granted to him.
When IANS contacted Sidhu, who faces charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery in the case of land scam, he said: "I just go to court only on the date of hearing."
Asked about his deputation having expired, Sidhu disconnected the phone and didn't respond to repeated calls by IANS.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who is chairperson of DUSIB, expressed surprise over the matter.
"I am not aware of this, but I will ask the Chief Secretary to look into it. It's good that you brought it to my notice. If this is the case, we will look into it," Dikshit told IANS.
Interestingly, Sidhu, who is an employee of the Municipal Council of Gurgaon (Haryana), had come to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) Slum and J.J. Wing as director on June 6, 2002, on a six-year deputation. The civic agency department was transferred to the Delhi government's DUSIB in July 2010.
According to officials, Sidhu had a "back door entry" in the sensitive department, which is entrusted with the task of allotting plots to slum dwellers in the capital, because of his "links and connections".
He came to the spotlight after he was arrested by the CBI in 2007 along with the Delhi assembly canteen's former contractor Ashok Malhotra and other civic officials. All of them were arrested for allegedly conspiring to acquire plots meant for resettlement of slum dwellers and subsequently selling them at exorbitant rates.
The plots were in the Molarband and Dheerpur areas of Delhi. The multi-crore land scam had caused huge uproar.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charge-sheeted Sidhu under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of a valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court had granted bail to Sidhu and others in November 2007. The trial is still on in a Delhi court.
Sidhu was suspended from the department following his arrest but reinstated in MCD in 2009 quietly even after the CBI had expresses reservations over his reinstatement.
On Nov 14, 2008, Sidhu had written to the MCD Commissioner that he "should be reinstated" as he was "falsely implicated" in the case. Following his letter, the MCD vigilance department in a letter, dated March 4, 2009, sought CBI advice for "considering reinstatement" of Sidhu.
"If the suspended public servants (S.N.S. Sidhu and others) are reinstated at this stage then they will tamper with the evidence and influence the witness. It is, therefore, advised that the suspension of the above officials may not be revoked at this stage," said a CBI letter dated April 23, 2009.
IANS has the letters exchanged between the MCD and the CBI on this matter.
The startling fact is that in 2009 even the Central Administrative Tribunal had called the appointment by deputation of Sidhu as "irregular, arbitrary and untenable" and directed the MCD to send Sidhu back to his parent organisation - Municipal Council of Gurgaon. However, he filed a petition in Delhi High Court contesting the order.