Ludhiana Municipal Commissioner suspended

Guilty of gross misuse of power

Ludhiana, July 17
Ludhiana Municipal Commissioner Malvinder Singh Jaggi has been suspended after a speedy one-hour inquiry by Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini found him guilty of gross misuse of power in demolishing the shop of a vegetable vendor who did not “attend to his wife properly”.

Sources said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal directed the Chief Secretary to proceed against the Municipal Commissioner last night after an inquiry by the DGP found the Commissioner at fault. This is the second instance when a bureaucrat has been taken to task for misusing power. Earlier, Patiala Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg was suspended for allowing the sale of government land.

The sources said the Deputy CM decided to take a firm action Jaggi to send a message to the bureaucracy that such behavior would not be tolerated. Senior IAS officer Anurag Verma, who has served as Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner earlier, has been appointed the new Commissioner.

Jaggi’s wife was apparently peeved at a vegetable vendor in Dandi Swami area of Ludhiana for not attending to her properly. It is alleged that the vendor asked her to pay for the vegetables. This charge is denied by the Commissioner. However, the DGP’s report found that the officer’s wife did leave the vend in anger, threatening to teach its owner a lesson.

Following the incident, a corporation demolition squad pulled down the vend. The perplexed owner was asked by a corporation employee to apologise to the Commissioner’s wife, if he wanted to resume business.