Proposal on giving job to Brar’s son rejected

Submitted by lovekesh on Sat, 18/09/2010 - 5:21am

Proposal on giving job to Brar’s son rejected
Jangveer Singh/TNS

Chandigarh, September 17
The proposal to appoint erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) Chairman HS Brar’s son Amaninder Singh Brar as SDO in the new state electricity utility, Powercom, has fallen through with expert advice going against the appointment.

CM Parkash Singh Badal had presided over a special meeting here yesterday evening that was attended by senior officials from the Power, Cooperation and Finance departments besides the Chief Secretary, to consider Amaninder’s case.

Board members of the erstwhile PSEB objected to Amaninder’s appointment when the case was put up before them in September 2009. However, the board referred the case to the government with the plea that the state Cabinet could consider it. The Cooperation Department had besides granting compensation to the family also offered a job to one of its members. Amaninder took up the offer after completing his engineering degree last year but with the sugar mill having closed down, the matter was referred to the Cooperation Department. Within a month of this being done, the erstwhile PSEB received a letter, requesting it to consider Amaninder for appointment as an SDO. His father was then Chairman of the board.

According to sources, the legal department of Powercom, which had prepared a brief on the case, felt that Amaninder’s claim did not have any basis. It was pointed out that the letter of the sugar mill, offering a job to the family, clearly stated that in case it did not reply to the same, it would be considered that the family was not interested in it.

Officers attending the meeting also pointed out that rules did not allow the appointment. They said Class I and Class II jobs could not be offered in such cases and that if this was done, a precedent would be set for others too. It was also pointed out that the erstwhile PSEB or the new entity Powercom were not liable to offer any job to Amaninder as they had neither acquired his land nor promised any job to him.