The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has decided to penalise 70 officers, a majority of them serving, for flouting rules and regulations pertaining to civil works. The serving officers will lose two annual grants of increment, while the retired ones’ pension will be reduced by 10 per cent, besides the recovery of fines ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 each for causing losses — pegged at Rs 3-4 crore — to the exchequer.

The PSPCL’s whole-time directors established that these officers committed irregularities in the execution of civil works in the corporation’s border zone in 2011-12. Sources said Power Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar and PSPCL Chief Managing Director Baldev Singh Sran decided that all guilty officials would be brought to book.

A former engineer-in-chief, four deputy chief engineers, 12 assistant superintendent engineers and nine subdivisional officers have been handed major penalties. These officers have been told to deposit the total fine of Rs 18.9 lakh. Of the 73 erring officers, the case of retired chief engineer Jagjit Singh Suchu was decided in December 2015. His one increment was stopped, without any bearing on his promotion. Two officers died in recent years.

As per documents with The Tribune, Sudeep Singh Sandhu, engineer-in-chief (retd), loses 10 per cent pension for a year. Retired deputy chief engineers Jasvir Singh and Shamsher Singh have been fined Rs 50,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively, besides a 5-10 per cent cut in pension for life. The PSPCL had initially approached the government, which had ordered a VB probe. The bureau had sent the file back, asking the PSPCL to conduct a departmental probe. “There was political pressure in the case as a majority of the officers named in the scam were patronised by politicians,” a senior officer said.

As per documents with The Tribune, more than 70 officials were found involved in corruption in civil works that were to be carried out in Tarn Taran (Rs 1.53 crore), Gurdaspur (Rs 1.29 crore) and the border zone (Rs 82 lakh).