Anurag Verma shifted from Punjab Revenue department days after ED summons in Suntec City case
PTC News Desk:The Punjab Government has transferred Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner (Revenue) Anurag Verma and appointed him Additional Chief Secretary of the Agriculture and Transport departments.
The reshuffle comes just a week after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Verma for more than eight hours as part of its money-laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the Rs 348-crore Suntec City project in Mohali. Verma was heading the Housing and Urban Development Department when several of the alleged violations took place.
The ED is investigating allegations that forged consent letters bearing the signatures and thumb impressions of 15 landowners were used to obtain Change of Land Use (CLU) approval for around 30.5 acres. The agency has also alleged that more than Rs 150 crore was collected from buyers without executing sale deeds. The probe also covers alleged irregularities in the Altus Space Builders project.
Real-estate businessman Ajay Sehgal, Suresh Kumar Bajaj and Nitin Gohal are among those being investigated by the ED. Others linked to the Indian Cooperative Housing Building Society and the Suntec City project are also under scrutiny.
As part of the latest reshuffle, Arshdeep Singh Thind, who was Administrative Secretary, Agriculture, has been transferred to the Rural Development Department.
Ajit Balaji Joshi will now handle the Cooperation and Taxation departments. Meanwhile, Varun Roojam, who was Administrative Secretary, Transport, will retain charge of only the Sports Department.
ED summons to Verma
Verma, who was then in charge of the Housing and Urban Development Department, said he received the ED summons on Tuesday and had carefully read it.
He said the summons did not clearly state which case he was being called in connection with. However, he said he would appear before the agency and submit all the necessary documents and facts.
Suntec City project under investigation
The ED is investigating the Suntec City real-estate project in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh. The agency alleges that Sehgal, linked to the Indian Cooperative Housing Building Society (ICHBS) Ltd, submitted fake consent letters to the Town and Country Planning Department to get Change of Land Use (CLU) permissions for 108.58 acres of agricultural land.
The land was planned for residential and commercial development. The ED says these CLUs were later used to obtain a project licence from the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and register the project under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA).
- PTC NEWS
