The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought a response from the Punjab government on a plea challenging the state’s purported move to transfer 10 market committees to the Punjab Mandi Board.
It further demanded preservation of records, site-wise verification and appropriate action, including recovery or proceedings, if any irregularity or loss is established. Malik gave an example where allegations have been levelled regarding a road work in Qadian involving a payment voucher of about ₹ 4 crore and seeks reconciliation of the claimed completion, completion certification, final bill and actual site position. The government and other respondents have been told to respond by November 17.
A PWD communication raised concerns that works and tenders in the same market committee area may have been handled by both the PWD and the mandi board, raising the possibility of overlapping or duplicate road projects, Malik said, adding that an independent, time-bound inquiry and verification of tender, payment and site records should determine whether any duplicate work was carried out, wrongful payments were made, or loss was caused to the state exchequer.
