After AIPEF, agitating Powercom JAC gains backing; EAS Sarma flags Illegality in proposed PSPCL land sale
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ January 5,2026
E A S Sarma, Former Secretary to the Government of India writes to K. A. Prasad Sinha Chief Secretary Punjab regarding proposed sale of PSPCL land assets by the Punjab Government. Sarma writes that If what has been reported is factually true, it is a highly imprudent decision of Punjab government to sell PSPCL land and this needs to be revoked forthwith.
Most of PSPCL’s lands were originally acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 on the ground that those lands were required for a “public purpose that the provision of land for a corporation owned or controlled by the State.
In other words, the lands in question were acquired at that time on the ground that they were required for a corporation wholly owned and controlled by the government. If the Punjab government now alienates those lands to private agencies, it would be in gross violation of that statutory requirement, which also indirectly constitutes a breach of the public trust.
Moreover, selling PSPCL’s lands to private parties is ill-advised as it would imply placing those lands in the hands of real estate agents who will profit at the cost of the State. PSPCL itself would require those lands in the future for expanding its activities.
He writes further that I get the impression that the Punjab government has embarked on this futile and counter-productive exercise of land monetisation, trying to mimic the overall land monetisation policy adopted by the NDA government at the Centre. The Centre itself, under intense pressure from corporates who provide election funds, is in a senseless, short-sighted spree of selling CPSEs and their assets, against the public interest. It is unfortunate that the AAP-ruled Punjab should cave in to pressure from the NDA government at the Centre and yield to pressure from the corporates in the State.
He requests the Punjab government to revoke the decision to monetise PSPCL’s assets and do anything to weaken it.
