First the issue of illegal sale of land to realtors and allowing them to build flats in thickly forested areas in tearing haste. The Urban development Minister Mohinder Singh admitted in the Assembly during its Budget session that irregularities had been committed in according Essentiality Certificates to six builders Under attack from the Opposition, the Chief Minister announced that a Select Committee of the House would be set up to examine the Himachal Pradesh Apartment and Property Regulation Act to look into all permissions granted to builders under it right from the inception to March 31, 2011. He also announced that if irregularities were found, a judicial probe would be ordered.

Prem Kumar Dhumal has kept his promise. His government last week wrote to Chief Justice to spare a sitting judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court to head a judicial probe into the controversial land deals. The High Court has, however, turned down the government’s request saying that none of the sitting judges is either willing or could be spared to head the judicial inquiry.

With the High Court rejecting the demand to spare a sitting judge for probe, two alternatives are open to the state government. One is to conduct the judicial inquiry through a retired High Court judge. Second is to refer the matter to the CBI as demanded by the Congress. The government may prefer the first option as it may not be ready to take the risk of agreeing to a CBI probe.

It is unfortunate that the country’s investigating and law enforcing agencies have been losing their credibility. The Vigilance Bureaus and Anti-Corruption departments of the states have become maidservants of their ruling leaderships acting more to protect their political bosses in corruption cases and against their political opponents than honestly enforcing anti-corruption laws. The recent examples are of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau’s prosecution witnesses, mostly government officials, almost en bloc turning hostile in the corruption cases against the chief Minister Parkash Singh, his wife Surinder Kaur, their son Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh and Assembly Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon leading to their acquittal.

In Himachal Pradesh also, two key prosecution witnesses in the audio CD case against Union Minister and former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh recently told the Himachal High Court that their statements recorded by the state Vigilance Bureau Officer were forged.

In comparison, the CBI still enjoys the trust of large sections of the people who demand CBI inquiries even in petty cases. The higher judiciary also refers investigations of important cases to the central agency. It is not that the CBI conducts all cases, especially relating to corruption at higher levels, impartially or is not influenced by the ruling political bosses. Whether in NDA or UPA rule, its credibility had often become suspect in some high-profile corruption cases. But the recent events have tended to restore its credibility. The events include the Commonwealth Games and 2G spectrum scams in which Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi, DMK’s former Telecommunication Minister A.Raja and DMK Rajya Sabha MP and the party supremo Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi have been charge-sheeted and arrested.

The action against the DMK leaders, particularly Kanimozhi ran the risk of endangering the survival of the UPA government as DMK with its 18 MPs is a key constituent of the ruling alliance.

Besides the alleged large-scale illegal sale of land, another corruption-related case got recently highlighted when Himachal Pradesh High Court raised its eyebrows over delays and inaction of the state government in granting prosecution sanctions against tainted officers. Despite vigilance cases pending against them, the officers were reinstated and given plum posts by the government. The High Court has given three months time to the Chief Secretary to inform the court about compliance of its orders.

It is not only the opposition alone which is attacking the government on the corruption issue. Brickbats are also being thrown at government from within the ruling party. Prominent among its critics is party’s Kangra MP Rajan Sushant who has been alleging that rampant corruption is prevailing in the state. The party high command has refrained from taking any action against him. The only consolation the corruption-hit Punjab and Himachal’s ruling leaderships can have is that some top Congress leaders of the two states including Punjab PCC chief Capt. Amarinder Singh and Himachal’s former Chief Minister, now the Union Minister Virbhadra Singh, are also facing corruption cases.
Politics is a gambling den where gains and losses depend on how skillfully the players make their moves. Despite lax functioning of Himachal government, the state has been applauded even at some national forums for its achievements in various arenas. But corruption and lose administration are soiling the government’s image.

Punjab’s Parkash Singh Badal-led Akali-BJP and Himachal’s Prem Kumar Dhumal-led BJP governments have declared development as their main election plank. But corruption is now going to be the main issue in the Assembly elections in the two states due in 2012. The Congress, the main opposition party, has already made its resolve known. (IPA Service)