CM-led Cabinet Approves Amendment to Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961

Move aimed at curbing unregistered possession, benami transactions, and other illegal arrangements

Chandigarh, August 14:The Punjab Cabinet, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, on Thursday approved an amendment to the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961.

A spokesperson from the Chief Minister’s Office disclosed today that the decision was taken during a meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by the Chief Minister.

As per the decision, the Cabinet approved amendments to the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, and the withdrawal of stamp duty and registration fee exemptions for certain classes of cooperative societies. Currently, the Act provides exemptions from compulsory registration, originally intended to facilitate the development of cooperative institutions. However, this provision has enabled property transactions—particularly in urban housing societies—to take place without formal registration or the payment of stamp duty and registration fees.

This situation has encouraged unregistered possession, benami transactions, and other legally risky arrangements. Therefore, an amendment to Section 37 of the Act has been made by adding Clauses 2 and 3. These clauses stipulate that the State Government may, through a notification in the Official Gazette, direct that the exemption under sub-section (1), or any part thereof, shall not apply to certain classes of cooperative societies or specified categories of instruments. Upon the issuance of such a notification, the instruments so notified shall be deemed to fall within the scope of clauses (b) and (c) of sub-section (1) of Section 17 of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, and will accordingly be subject to compulsory registration under that Ac.

Cabinet Approves Creation of “Panchayat Development Secretary” Post

To enhance the development of rural areas through proper execution and supervision, the Cabinet also approved the creation of the post of “Panchayat Development Secretary” by merging the cadres of Panchayat Secretaries and Gram Sevaks (Village Development Officers). Subsequently, a state cadre will be constituted for these posts to accelerate rural development across Punjab. For existing Panchayat Secretaries, a dying cadre will be created, who will be placed based on their self-declaration letters and as per their seniority, following the existing Gram Sevaks (VDOs) in the seniority list.

Ex-post Facto Approval for Formation of GoM for Crop Procurement

The Cabinet granted ex-post facto approval for the formation of a Group of Ministers (GoM) to ensure the smooth procurement of Kharif and Rabi crops during the procurement seasons. This GoM is chaired by the Agriculture Minister and includes the Ministers for Food & Civil Supplies, Transport, and Water Resources as members.

Ex-post Facto Approval for Cabinet Sub-Committee Formation

The Cabinet also granted ex-post facto approval for the formation of a Cabinet Sub-Committee. This committee will review and consider the recommendations made by the Committee of Officers regarding Parts II and III of the 6th Punjab Pay Commission Report.

Gives nod to withdraw notification for Land Pooling Policy 2025

The Cabinet also decided to withdraw notification of Department of Housing and Urban Development, Punjab pertaining to Land Pooling Policy 2025 issued on June 4, 2025 along with subsequent Amendments.

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WANTED IN FAZILKA MURDER CASE, TWO OPERATIVES OF LAWRENCE BISHNOI GANG HELD; GLOCK RECOVERED

— ARRESTED ACCUSED HAD FLED TO NEPAL AFTER COMMITTING MURDER, RETURNED TO COMMIT SENSATIONAL CRIME IN PUNJAB: DGP GAURAV YADAV

— GANG MEMBERS USUALLY FLEE TO NEPAL AFTER COMMITTING CRIME IN PUNJAB: ADGP PROMOD BAN

CHANDIGARH, August 14:In a major breakthrough amidst the ongoing drive against organised crime launched on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Punjab Police’s Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) has arrested two most-wanted operatives of Lawrence Bishnoi gang from Patiala-Ambala Highway near village Shambhu and recovered an Austria-made 9mm Glock pistol along with six live cartridges from their possession, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.

Those arrested have been identified as Akshay Delu and Ankit Bishnoi alias Kakkar, both residents of village Khairpur in Abohar, Fazilka. The arrested accused persons were operating on the instructions of their foreign-based handlers identified as Anmol Bishnoi and Arzoo Bishnoi.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigation revealed that they fled to Nepal after committing the murder and returned on directions of their foreign-based handlers to commit a sensational crime in Punjab.

He said that both the accused persons have an extensive criminal history with over 15 heinous crime cases pertaining to murder, attempt to murder, extortion, Arms Act and NDPS Act registered against them in Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat. They were also wanted in the recent murder of Bharat Ratan alias Vicky took place in Fazilka on May 2, 2025, he added.

The DGP said that further investigations are ongoing to establish forward and backward linkages in this case.

Sharing operational details, ADGP AGTF Promod Ban stated that a tip-off was received regarding the duo’s attempt to enter the state.

Acting swiftly on the intelligence, special teams were formed, who tracked down the accused persons on the Ambala-Patiala Highway and apprehended them near Village Shambu in an early morning operation, said the ADGP, while adding that a sophisticated weapon was recovered recovered from their possession.

Sharing the modus operandi of the gang, DIG AGTF Gurmeet Chauhan said that after executing the criminal task given by their handlers, this gang usually flee to Nepal and use hideouts provided by their gang associates or foreign handlers.

In this regard, a case FIR No. 6 dated 14/8/25 has been registered under section 111 (3)(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and section 25 (6)(7) of the Arms Act at Police Station Punjab State Crime in SAS Nagar.

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ON EVE OF I-DAY, PUNJAB POLICE BUSTS ANOTHER BKI TERRORIST MODULE; TWO HELD WITH TWO GRENADES, ONE PISTOL

— ARRESTED ACCUSED WERE ACTIVELY CONSPIRING TO TARGET GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENTS USING GRENADES: DGP GAURAV YADAV

— FURTHER PROBE TO ASCERTAIN MODULE’S CONTACTS WITHIN AND OUTSIDE COUNTRY: AIG CI FEROZEPUR GURSEWAK SINGH

CHANDIGARH/FEROZEPUR, August 14: Amidst the heightened security in the state to ensure peaceful celebrations of Independence Day as mandated by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Counter Intelligence (CI) Ferozepur has successfully foiled a major terror plot being orchestrated by Pak-ISI backed terrorist Harwinder Rinda with the arrest of two operatives of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) terror module, said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav here on Thursday.

Those arrested have been identified as Harpreet Singh alias Preet, a resident of village Bhullar in Tarn Taran, and Gulshan Singh alias Nandu, a resident of village Rampura in Amritsar. Police teams have recovered two 86P hand grenades and one 9MM pistol along with five live cartridges from their possession.

The development came on the eve of Independence Day and two days after Punjab Police busted a BKI terror module with the arrest of five operatives, including three juveniles, from Tonk and Jaipur districts of Rajasthan and recovered one 86P hand-grenade and one .30 bore pistol from their possession.

DGP Gaurav Yadav said that preliminary investigations have revealed that the arrested accused persons were working under the directions of their foreign-based handlers sitting in UK, USA and Europe. Probe has also revealed that the arrested accused persons were actively conspiring to target government buildings and police establishments using grenades to disturb the peace and harmony of the border state, he said.

The DGP said that further investigations are ongoing to establish forward and backward linkages in this case.

Sharing operation details, AIG CI Ferozepur Gursewak Singh Brar said that following credible human intelligence, teams from CI Ferozepur launched an intelligence operation and arrested suspects, Harpreet Singh alias Preet and Gulshan Singh alias Nandu, from Talwandi Bhai in Ferozepur.

The AIG said that Police have obtained remand of the accused persons, and further interrogation is expected to reveal more details regarding their contacts within and outside the country and their intended targets.

In this regard, a case FIR under section 25 of the Arms Act and sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act has been registered at Police Station SSOC Fazilka.

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RIMC June 2025 Result Out on Punjab Defence Services Welfare Website

Chandigarh, August 14-An official spokesperson of the Directorate of Defence Services Welfare, Punjab, informed that the result of the RIMC June 2025 written examination has been uploaded on the official website of the Department – dsw.punjab.gov.in. All candidates who appeared in the examination can check their results on this link.

The spokesperson added that the official website of the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) is presently under maintenance, due to which the result could not be uploaded there.

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ON EVE OF INDEPENDENCE DAY, MHA ANNOUNCES NAMES OF PUNJAB POLICE OFFICIALS FOR PMDS, MMS AWARDS

— DGP GAURAV YADAV CONGRATULATES AWARDEES; THANKS CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND STATE GOVERNMENT FOR RECOGNISING SERVICES OF PUNJAB POLICE

CHANDIGARH, August 14:Recognising the outstanding services of the Punjab Police, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (GOI), on the eve of 79th Independence Day announced the names of the Punjab Police officers/officials, to be awarded President’s Medal for Distinguished Service (PMDS) and Medal for Meritorious Service (MMS).

An IPS-officer Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) State Armed Police Punjab MF Farooqui and Inspector Suresh Kumar, Counter Intelligence, Ludhiana to be conferred with President’s Medal for Distinguished Service.

Similarly, one IPS-officer Inspector General of Police (IGP) Intelligence-II Gurdial Singh and one PPS-officer DSP SSOC Amritsar Gurpreet Singh are among 14 officers/officials who have been selected for the Medal for Meritorious Service. The remaining officials include Inspector Satinder Kumar, Inspector Deepak Kumar, Inspector Jagdeep Singh, Inspector Tejinderpal Singh, SI Amrik Singh, SI Sanjiv Kumar, SI Amritpal Singh, SI Anil Kumar, SI Bhupinder Singh, ASI Jaswinderjit Singh, ASI Kuldeep Singh and SI Krishan Kumar.

Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav, while congratulating the awardees, expressed gratitude to the Central Government and State Government for recognizing the services of these officers and boosting the morale of the entire Punjab Police force. He said that such recognition plays a significant role in encouraging the Police force to work with more dedication and devotion, which is pivotal in a border state having manifold security challenges.