Tota Singh may quit on moral grounds
Wednesday, 09/05/2012
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120509/punjab.htm#6
Pressure is mounting on Agriculture Minister Tota Singh to submit his resignation from the Cabinet on moral grounds. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who has sought legal opinion on the issue, has been told that the minister has no legal obligation to quit.
Tota Singh has reportedly told his supporters that he will not hesitate to resign if asked by the Chief Minister to do so .
Badal, talking to mediapersons at Mohali, where he laid the foundation stone of Punjab Olympic Bhawan in Phase IX, said he was yet to go into the details of the judgement. “All I can say is that the minister may resign on moral grounds if he feels so, but there is no legal necessity for him to quit ”. A Mohali court had on May 5 held Tota Singh guilty of misusing the official vehicle of the school education board during his tenure as Education Minister from 1997 to 2002.
Chandigarh: Agriculture Minister Tota Singh today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, challenging a trial court orders of convicting and sentencing him in a corruption case.
The appeal is expected to come up for hearing on Thursday. Tota Singh, in his appeal, has argued that he was given a private vehicle with unlimited fuel and there was no need for him to misuse his official car.
The minister also submitted that the lower court, in its judgment, had cast serious aspersions on the investigating agency. The court had held that the investigating agency had deliberately not collected evidence against Tota Singh.
The minister submitted that the investigating agency was biased against him and he was implicated in the case.
In its 75-page judgement, the Mohali court had issued show-cause notices to three witnesses, asking them to explain why perjury proceedings should not be initiated against them for misleading the court.
