Punjab Civil Service officers will proceed on a mass casual leave for five days starting Monday in protest against the arrest of a PCS officer in Ludhiana by the state vigilance bureau.
A decision in this regard was taken by the Punjab Civil Services Officers' Association on Sunday.
PCS officer Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, who was posted as Regional Transport Authority (RTA) in Ludhiana, was arrested on Friday by the vigilance bureau for allegedly collecting bribes from the transporters for not issuing challans of their vehicles, the bureau had said.
The PCS Officers' Association held a meeting of its general body to discuss Dhaliwal's arrest. Eighty PCS officers attended the meeting, according to the resolution of the association.
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"The PCS officer has been arrested illegally, wrongfully and arbitrarily and without due procedure," it said.
It was resolved in the meeting that all the PCS officers in the state shall proceed on mass casual leave for the coming week starting from January 9, it said.
It further said that a memorandum shall be submitted to the chief minister in this regard.
The association demanded that the government should constitute a high powered committee to investigate the "illegal" arrest of Dhaliwal and sought its report by January 13.
The committee should include senior IAS officers of principal secretary rank as well as a PCS officer and representatives of the transport department.
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It was also resolved that further course of action shall be decided upon review of the situation on January 14.
The vigilance bureau on Friday had said that during the investigations of a complaint lodged through the chief minister's anti-corruption helpline on November 18, it was found that the accused Dhaliwal was indulging in collecting bribes through some private persons from different transporters on monthly basis in Ludhiana on the pretext of not issuing challans of their vehicles.
