File goes missing from CMO, officer quizzed
Rajmeet Singh
Chandigarh, June 7
A file pertaining to an inquiry into the regularisation of services of 30 daily-wagers by Indian Forest Service officer Harsh Kumar went missing from the heavily guarded premises of the Punjab Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on the second floor of the Civil Secretariat here in April.On April 12, Harsh Kumar had visited the office of the Deputy Principal Secretary to the CM — from where the file went missing — to submit an explanation on regularising the jobs of daily-wagers. It is learnt he was among those questioned as part of an inquiry into the missing file.
When contacted, Harsh Kumar said he had visited the CMO to demand a Vigilance inquiry into the case. Claiming he was not aware of the file going missing, he said there was nothing incriminatory against him as his “orders pertaining to the regularisation of daily-wagers have been upheld by the High Court”.
Intriguingly, two other files (also pertaining to chargesheets issued to Harsh Kumar in two other cases) that were lying with the file that went missing were untouched. These two chargesheets issued to the IFS officer have been stayed by the Central Administrative Tribunal.
A discreet probe into the disappearance of the documents had been marked to a police officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police.
He was asked to trace the sequence of events leading to the disappearance of the documents. The CCTV footage of the day was analysed along with phone location details of suspects, sources said.
The documents were marked to the Deputy Principal Secretary to the CM, Amrit Kaur Gill. Though these went missing on April 12, the inquiry remained under wraps until recently when a report was submitted to the office of the Chief Principal Secretary to the CM, Suresh Kumar.
Terming it a serious matter, a senior CMO functionary said it was being probed, but refused to give any details.
Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar said action would be taken on the basis of the inquiry report, as warranted.
