The problems of former chief secretary BP Singh may increase once the old files in connection with the sale of Khasgi Trust properties are unwrapped.
A probe into the sale of properties began after Singh was shifted from Indore where he was the divisional commissioner till 2011. In an order, the then collector Akash Tripathi called the sale of properties illegal. The collector’s order became the basis of the High Court’s directive to hand over the properties to the state government.
The then collector probed the case after receiving a letter from former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Tripathi visited Haridwar to inspect the properties. In his order, Tripathi referred to Mahajan’s letter in which it was reportedly mentioned that Kushawart Ghat in Haridwar was illegally sold.
The collector considered that the properties were handed over to the trust for maintenance. Only the state government has the authority over those properties.
In his order, the collector wrote to registrar that the state government should be made the real owner of those properties. According to Tripathi’s order, it should also be written in the documents that the properties are not transferrable.
Tripathi also wrote that collectors of other states where Khasgi Trust properties exist should be asked to transfer the assets to MP government.
A single bench of High Court had cancelled the collector’s order. But after an appeal, a division bench issued the order, which clearly indicated that the properties were illegally sold.
The district administration had also treated as illegal the commissioner’s consent for sale of the properties. All those trustees who gave consent at a meeting of the board to sell the properties are set to be on EOW radar.
Singh wrongly signed the power of attorney to transfer the properties. According to sources, it was proved only after a year that he had wrongly signed the papers. But he neither ordered an inquiry into it nor put up the matter strongly before the court.
