TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (5) TMI 1452
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....llotted more than 100 projects by the Government of Punjab, which have been successfully completed and no concern or grievance has been raised by anyone regarding the same. 3. It is also asserted on behalf of the petitioner that the instant FIR came to be filed on certain inter departmental rivalry, on absolutely misconceived facts as has been contended by learned Senior Counsel involving the petitioner and falsely implicated therein. 4. Mr. Cheema, learned Sr. Advocate presses upon this Court to grant interim protection to the petitioner considering that he is ready and willing to join investigation. Before adverting to the facts, the allegations as emerging out from the FIR are reiterate herein below: "F.I.R. contents (attach separate sheet, if required): Today, 1, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Vigilance Bureau, F.S.-1, Unit-1, Punjab, Chandigarh, was present in Police Station Vigilance Bureau, F.S.-1, Punjab at Mohali, when Vigilance Enquiry No. 15 dated Chandigarh, 30.6.2017 against M/s. Gurinder Singh, Contractor, M/s. Pushpinder Singh Sidhu, Contractor, M/s. Khara Contractor and Officers/ officials, Irrigation Department and enclosed papers received by....
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....t the works in far off places, different works, relating to various drains, even belonging to various districts and Divisions clubbed and produced as big amount tender, so as to allocate the work to said M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor on higher rates. During said period, some other such kind of works, value of which was assessed less than 2 Crores, were in competition on having participated by a number of eligible Contractors, hence the said tenders allotted other Contractors on much less value than the prescribed rates. In some tenders of works which were invited by the officers of department having D.N.I.T., in which neither actual work was mentioned, nor quantum of work and required technical specifications were given. In absence of such information, it was not possible for any Contractor to quote exact rate for work. On the other hand, the said information secretly provided by concerned officers of departments to M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor, so as to ensure allocation of work to him. As a result of all this, the annual turnover of M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor, which was merely 4.74 Crore in year 2006-2007, abnormally increased by 65 to 70 times and became Rs.300 Crores in ....
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.... on CSR + SP or lesser rates. This trend also continued during other years. Initially, said M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor obtained 2 works worth Rs. 8 crore and 5.5 crore in year 2011-12 for re-sectioning of Abul Khurana Drain. At that time, Gulshan Nagpal was Executive Engineer. While acting against rules, neither quantum of job work, nor any technical specifications were given in D.N.I.T. (Detailed Notice Inviting Tender) for said job work. Reason behind it was that estimate for said job work sanctioned after a period of 2 months from floating of the tender. In both the said works, the condition of experience in such work in approved S.B.D. (Standard Bidding Document) (which is according to CVC guidelines) i.e. 'Bidder in its name should have satisfactorily completed in the last five years one similar work of value not less than 80% of the estimated cost or two similar works of value not less than 50% of the estimated cost of work or three similar works of value not less than 40% of the estimated cost of work)', which was tailor-made in order to suit M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor and condition for experience of similar job work of value not less than 80% was changed and....
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....e of doing said work of value worth Rs. 40 Crore in order to obtain a major contract. Sub-surface pipe lines were to be laid in a number of villages of southern-western Punjab in order to drain out the water logged area. The executive engineer of this work was Gulshan Nagpal, Superintendent engineer Paramjit Singh Ghumman, Chief Engineer (Retd.) and Chief engineer was Sh. Gurdev Singh Sian, were attached to said work. The said villages were far away situated and situated under various Divisional offices, but since the said work was to be allotted to M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor by understanding, hence a major tender worth Rs. 75 crore was floated. No quantum of work was mentioned in the tender documents. The technical specifications of work were not clear and in place of giving name of village in the column of place of work, District Muktsar, Faridket and Fazilka was only mentioned. Since there were such intentional discrepancies in tender document, hence it was not possible for any other bidder to offer the bid, nor exact rate could be offered by other Contractors in absence of exact quantum of work, place of work and distance of place. All this was done in pre-planned ....
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....ive years prior to March, 2014 prior to March, 2014 as prime contractor a single Civil Engineering work (relates to irrigation value not less than Rs. 38.00 Crores or two Civil Engineering works relates to irrigation value not less that 30.00 crores each, having value of Dewatering Component not less than Rs.3.00 Crores in both cases), as a result of which, the experience of M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor in drains worth Rs. 39 crores was found to be fit for job work of said sub-surface. According to other terms & conditions, imposed in D.N.I.T., other Major A-I contractors became ineligible and the competition was so soft (as in tailor-made condition regarding turnover. The said conditions were imposed in view of turnover & experience of M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor. The said connivance resulted in allocation of said job work on the rate, which was 17% exceeding than C.S.R.+ S.P. and in this way, the value of work increased to the tune of about Rs. 14 crore. This way, financial loss caused to the government in well planned manner. At the time of various sanctions in said work, Bajrang Lal Singla was Executive Engineer, Drainage Administration, Headquarter. The job of Executive E....
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....r off places of halqa office and Divisional officers, whereas the jurisdiction of Divisional offices is more than 100 K.M. At that time, Bajrang Lal Singla was Executive Engineer, Headquarters, Drainage Administration. The dates for tender were fixed in order to show the work of emergency nature and may be allotted to anyone in arrogant manner. The relaxation of not getting Vett the estimates of drainage adminisration was obtained from Technical Advisor to Hon'ble Chief Minister, Punjab was obtained on the basis of false facts. The meeting held in 2008 regarding job work to stop the problem of Sem, held in presence of the then Finance Minister, Punjab in presence of Principal Secretary of Department and officers belonging to Drainage Administration, in which the then Chief Engineer, Drainage assured that remaining tenders will be invited Drain-wise. Hence the tenders invited by clubbing various drains were not in accordance with the proceeding conducted in said meeting. Moreover, there is mentioned in the minutes of meeting dated 24.5.2012 regarding works of inigation department, presided over by Irrigation Minister, that it was decided to invite major tenders. The tenders of d....
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....t it also made possible to get the deal marked between Contractors. The terms & conditions regarding experience & annual turnover in job work were also fixed by keeping in view the experience of M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor and tailormode terms chalked in violation of instruction No. 12-021-C.T.E.-6 dated 17.12.2002 of S.B.D. & C.V.C. Showing difference of only Rs. 1/- in rates quote for some items in financial bids by M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor and another bidder M/s. Soma Construction for work of Shahpur Kandi Hydel Channal clealy speaks about connivance between department and bidders in the matter of tenders. At the time of allotment of most of job work in Kandi Administration and Shahpur Kandi Hydel Channel, Harvinder Singh was Chief Engineer. In December, 2016 i.e. just before implementation of Model Code Conduct January 2017, Kandi Administration allotted 2 major tenders (containing job work of distribution of Saroya Distributory and Rehabilitation of Kandi Canal Phase-1, total amounting to about Rs. 30 Crore) allotted to M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor. The said 2 job works were on agreement basis, in which, Clause 4.4 of S.B.D. deleted in D.N.I.T. In CWP No.9607 of 201....
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...., S.D.O. and Vimal Sharma, Supervisor personally kept on working for said M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor. Moreover, the facts regarding getting allotted tenders on higher rates by Sh. Gurinder Singh and other contractors including Pushpinder Singh Sidhu & Khara Contractors, in connivance with each other and showing fake competition, will reveal on further investigation. M/s. Gurinder Singh Contractor have gained more than 2 dozen properties during above noted period in illegal manner, some of which are 1635, Sector 18, Chandigarh, House No. 184, Sector 19, Chandigarh, House No. 632, Phase-II, Mohali, Plot No.1111, Sector 63, Mohali, Plot No.1583, Sector 69, Mohali, Plot No. 666, Sector 78, Mohali, Plot No. 1605, Sector 80, Mohali, House No. 3649, Sector 69, Mohali, Plot No. LP 26, Sector 76-80, Mohali, Plot No. 4116, Sector 68, Mohali, Plot No. 163, Sector 82, Mohali, S.C.O.32, Sector 19, Chandigarh, Plot No.88-89, GMADA, Mohali, Plot No. 3309, 4072, 4073, 5059, Aerocity, Mohali, E-13, Industrial Area, Phase-7, Mohali, E-318, Industrial Area, Phase-8-A, Mohali, Hotel Site, Sector 66-A, Mohali, B-39, Sector 57A. Mohali, C-3, Sector 57-A, Mohali, Plot No. 103, Village Boolakpur, Ludh....
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....hich were issued on 13.03.2023 for 20.03.2023 reasonable time has been consumed by the petitioner and the respondents have approached to Special Judge CBI, Punjab, SAS Nagar, whereby firstly bailable warrants, then nonbailable warrants and thereafter finally open ended non-bailable warrants were issued which remain unexecuted. Mr. Jain, further vehmently argued for dismissal of petition drawing attention of this Court to the clever and smart device being adopted by the petitioner to evade intentionally and deliberately, not only the summoning by the Enforcement Department i.e. a law enforcing agency but also the judicial orders passed by the Special Judge, CBI, Punjab, SAS Nagar from time to time. 6. Heard learned counsel for the respective parties. 7. There is no necessity to go much into the background of the case, but confining itself to the issue involved in the present petition on which it came to be filed, is a summon dated 13.03.2023 issued by the respondents/Directorate of Enforcement, Jalandhar, Zonal Office calling upon the petitioner to appear on 20.03.2023 at 10:30 am. The petitioner admittedly did not comply to the summons as has been in a tabulated form given in....
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....S) 4422 23.08.2019 GS ED Office 2nd Summons dated 23.08.2019 were issued to appear alongwith the information/documents called as per the annexure before the summoning authority on 05.09.2019 at 10:00 AM at ED office in Chandigarh. 7 GSC/2K19/430 04.09.2019 ED Office GS In reply to ED office 2nd summon dated 23.08.2019 it was submitted that on 05.09.2019, the Ld special Judge Ms. Monika Goyal, Session Court, Mohali has already fixed date for appearance in FIR No. 10. It was also informed that the Hon'ble Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh vide decision dated 30.08.2019 have allowed me to enter Punjab with prior intimation to the Investigating Officer (VB). It was requested to give another date as of 6th September 2019 or any other date except 09.09.2019 and 10.09.2019 which were already fixed in Court. 8 GSC/2K19/432 06.09.2019 GS ED Office On 06.09.2019 1 appeared at ED office along with partial Information/ documents out of the annexure and my statement was also recorded. It was informed that balance information is being collected and shall be handed over soon. 9 GSC/2K19/441 12.09.2019 GS ED Office On 12.0....
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.... ED office. 19 GSC/2K19/517 26.11.2019 GS ED Office In reference to my appearance on 27.11.2019 at Jalandhar it was submitted that arbitration case regarding termination of work has already been fixed for appearance. So ED Office was requested to allow me to appear on any date except 02.12.2019, 03.12.2019, 05.12.2019, 06.12.2019 and 09.12.2019 being pre-fixed in other matters. 20 GSC/2K19/521 30.11.2019 GS The Direct or, ED, New Delhi Representation regarding Independent, Neutral Unbiased Investigation and was sent along with brief history/events prior to Registration of FIR 10/2017 (Enquiry no.11 dated. 10.05.2017, Enquiry no.15 dated 30.06.2017), The Registration of FIR 10 dated 17.08.2017, ALLEGATIONS leveled, Reasons/ circumstances on the Basis of which thorough and unbiased investigation is required was sent 21 ECIR/JLZO/01/2018/AD (GS)/906/6905 24.12.2019 ED Office GS 4th summon were issued by ED for appearance on 02.01.2020 11.00 AM and at to furnish information/ documents as per annexure attached. 22 ECIR/JLZO/01/2018/AD(GS)/906/6906 24.12.2019 ED Office GS 1st summon were issued by ED for appearance o....
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....alandhar Zone Shilpy Narang Received by Hand Provisional Attachment Order no. 01/2021 (Under first Proviso to Sub-Section (1) of Section 5 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002) 34 - 19.08.2021 Vikrant Bangotra Deputy Direct or, ED, Jalandhar Zone GS & Shilpy Narang Received by Hand Original by Complaint No. 1512/2021 under section 5(5) of PMLA, 2002 In Provisional Attachment order no. 01/2021 dated 27.07.2021 in Case ECIR/JLZO/01/2018. 35 OC No.-1512/2021 24..09.2021 Registrar/Administrative Officer, Adjudicating Authority (PMLA), New Delhi GS Notice to show cause Under Section 8 of PMLA Act 2002-Directed to file written reply on or before 07.11.2021. 36 OC No.-1512/2021 24.09.2021 Registrar/Administrative Officer, Adjudicating Authority (PMLA), New Delhi Smt. Shilpy Narang Notice to show cause under Section 8 of PMLA Act 2002-Directed to file written reply on or before 07.11.2021. 37 - 29.03.2022 Sh. Vinod anand Jha Chairman Gurinder Singh and Shilpy Narang Order pronounced on 29.03.2022 through online Video Conference and confirmed PAO No. 01/2021 dated 27.07.2021 and allowed OC No.1512/20....
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....hall submit the relevant documents of balance 8 properties within one week time after arranging the maps and other documents which are not available with me. It was also mentioned that I had been cooperating and that I will always cooperate and that there is no delay/ evasion from the ongoing proceedings of ED. 41 GSC/2K20/265 GS ED Office In reference to ED e-mail dated ce 24.01.2023 in F.No. ECIR/JLZO/01/2018 and in continuation to our earlier communication dated 25.01.2023, ED was duly informed that we have submitted documents of all 34 properties as available with us and that we are arranging the balance required documents which are not available with us mainly the sanctioned drawings/ maps. from the concerned departments. It was also stated that as soon as we receive these documents, we shall submit them to the designated Valuer. It was again stated that we are cooperating to our best way possible and we are available for any further query or requirements under the matter of investigation. 42 - 02.02.2023 (through email) ED Office GS In reference with the valuation of properties as detailed in letter dated 13.01.2023, following inf....
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....d till 17.08.2017 are pending to be handed over to us. Property at Sr. No. 2: Industrial Plot no E-318, Phase VIII-A Lease-Deed, Sanctioned Plan/ Drawings, Years of actual construction with constructed area up to 17.08.2017, photographs if the building was partly constructed till 17.08.2017 are pending to be handed over to us. Property at Sr. No. 11: Plot LP-26, Sector 76-80, Mohali - Allotment Letter clearly depicting the Plot No and Sector is pending to be handed over to us. Property at Sr. No. 13: Industrial Plot no 163, JLPL, Sector 82-Sanctioned Plan/Drawings, Years of actual construction with constructed area up to 17.08.2017, photographs if the building was partly constructed till 17.08.2017 are pending to be handed over to us. Property at Sr. No. 18: House No 1635, Sector 18 D, Chd-Years of actual construction with constructed area up to 17.08.2017, photographs if the building was partly constructed till 17.08.2017 are pending to be handed over to us. Property at Sr. No. 25: Industrial Plot no C-111, Phase VII Lease-Deed, Sanctioned Plan/ Drawings, Years of actual construction with constructed area up to 17.08.2017, photographs if the building was partly cons....
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....at we have submitted all the desired documents and information available with us /arranged by us which are listed below:- a) Industrial Plot no. E-13, Phase VII submitted Lease Deed, Area and years of actual construction upto 17.08.2017. b) Industrial Plot no. E-318, phase VIII-A - All documents as submitted earlier (Lease deed not executed since not required) c) Plot LP-26, Sector 76-80, Mohali - allotment letter is awaited and shall be submitted immediately on receiving. d) Industrial Plot No. 163, JLPL, Sector 82, Mohali Submitted documents of change of ownership, sale deed, sanctioned plans, area and years of actual construction upto 17.08.2017. Photographs as on/before 17.08.2017 are not available (we are still searching for the same and shall submit them as and when and if found). e) House no. 1635, Sector 18D, Chandigarh-Submitted Area and years of actual construction upto 17.08.2017 and photographs of the partially constructed building as on/before 17.08.2017. f) Industrial Plot No. C-111, Phase VII-Lease deed submitted. It was humbly submitted further that we have fully cooperated in the ongoing investigation by reli....
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....ctor Branch, Chandigarh 17 and upon depositing the above said amount, the properties. mentioned at Sr. No. 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 13 in Annexure-A, and the properties mentioned at Sr. No. 1 and 2 in Annexure- B, would be released from attachment Copy of the order. 49 - 09.02.2023 (through email) ED Office GS In reference with the valuation of properties as detailed in letter dated 13.01.2023 and email dated 02.02.2023 following information/ documents were directed to the provided within 03 days of this communication by ED: a. Details of the properties which are currently under mortgage with Banks or with any other Financial Institutions. b. Property wise details of the loan(s) granted by Bank(s)/ Financial Institutions (total amount of loan sanctioned, date on which loan was sanctioned) and current outstanding loan amount. c. Complete details of the Branch of Bank/ Financial Institution from whom the loan was sanctioned. In relation to those properties, maintained by me/my wife with other co-owners, ED further directed to provide property-wise details, describing specific portion/ areas which are either under me/my wife's posse....
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....ho has been availing time to appear for Enforcement Directorate under garb of lame excuses and flippant statements. 10. On perusal of the impugned orders before this Court firstly, from the application under Section 46 and 65 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 read with Section 70 of Cr.P.C. moved by the respondents on 28.03.2023 wherein non-bailable warrants were sought. The record was called upon by the Special Judge, CBI, Punjab, SAS Nagar vide order dated 21.03.2023 and after, having the record, passed in the order dated 17.04.2023 issuing bailable warrants in the sum of Rs.1 Lac with one surety in the like amount through the applicant/IO, returnable by 24.04.2023. The petitioner did not adhere to it as the same were received back unexecuted despite several attempts, as has been recorded in the said order itself, finally the nonbailable warrants were issued for 03.05.2023. 11. The subsequent order passed by the Special Judge, CBI, Punjab, SAS Nagar, dated 03.05.2023, further depict that the said nonbailable warrants were received back unexecuted with a detailed report showing that Gurinder Singh has been granted interim bail by Special Court vide order dated 28.0....