Punjab Vigilance chief, 2 other officers suspended in driving licence scam

The Punjab government on Friday suspended state Vigilance Bureau Chief S P S Parmar and two other senior officers in connection with an alleged driving licence scam.

The two other suspended officers are Assistant Inspector General, Vigilance Bureau, SAS Nagar, Swarandeep Singh, and Senior Superintendent of Police, Vigilance Bureau, Jalandhar, Harpreet Singh.

Additional Director General of Police (NRI) Praveen Kumar Sinha will hold the additional charge of Chief Director, Vigilance Bureau.

The government suspended the officers for allegedly not taking timely action against some people, including officers, involved in the driving license scam.

Earlier this month, the vigilance bureau had conducted surprise inspections at regional transport authority (RTA) offices and driving test centres across the state, leading to the arrest of several people allegedly involved in bribery and malpractices.

The operation targeted RTA officials and agents who were acting as intermediaries, charging illegal fees to expedite driving licence processing or manipulate driving test results.

It was discovered that driving licenses were being issued without proper driving tests after accepting bribes. Some proxy drivers were used to take driving tests for other people.

A total of 16 FIRs were registered and 24 persons were arrested.

The raids had been carried out following numerous complaints received through the Chief Minister's anti-corruption action line.

Parmar was placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 3 (3) of All India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969, for "grave misconduct and dereliction of duty," according to an order.

Parmar, a 1997 batch IPS officer, was appointed as the Punjab Vigilance chief on March 26, replacing G Nageswara Rao.

Before that, Parmar was serving as Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order).

PPS officers Swarandeep Singh and Harpreet Singh were placed under suspension with immediate effect under Rule 4(1) (a) of the Punjab Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 1970 for "grave misconduct and dereliction of duty."