Babus take mass leave to protest colleague’s arrest

Chandigarh: Punjab Civil Services (PCS) Officers Association will go on a 5-day casual leave to mark their protest against the arrest of Narinder Singh Dhaliwal. The protests will start on Monday.
Dhaliwal, a Punjab Civil Service officer posted in Ludhiana Regional Transport authority, was arrested by Vigilance Bureau over the charges of corruption on Friday.
The General body of the Punjab PCS Officers’ Association met on Sunday to discuss the turn of events wherein a PCS officer has been arrested, as per a statement. It said: “As per the association the bureaucrats are targeted illegally, wrongfully and arbitrarily and without due procedure on the basis of a mere statement of an individual.”
The association stated that the issue of the arrest of RTA Ludhiana who is also a PCS officer was discussed at length as was also a similar nature case of Tarsem Chand, another PCS officer. “The Constitution of India upholds the rule of law which is available to every citizen of India and it was noted that in this case this right has been totally and unconstitutionally denied during the arrest of Narinder Dhaliwal.”
Further it added, “It was noted that under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, No police officer shall conduct enquiry or inquiry or investigation into

any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant under this Act, where the alleged offence is relatable to any decision taken by such public servant in discharge of his official function or duties without the previous approval of the competent authority who is the Chief Secretary in this case. The entire association was distraught with such unorderly conduct of the vigilance department wherein the Standard Operating Procedures under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act have been blatantly violated.”
“It was resolved that the PCS association is and will always be against corruption at any level and resolves to help government remove all corruption and even organized crime from the state. In fact the association resolved to put in extra efforts to gather facts and data related to such organized crime and provide details to the government so that action can be taken against the perpetrators.”
“It was also resolved that all the PCS officers in the state shall proceed on mass casual leave for the coming week starting from 9th Jan 2023,” the statement said.
“It was also resolved that in the case of Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, vigilance bureau has unconstitutionally and illegally arrested him on the mere videographic statement of a person.”