The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has decided to withdraw all “politically-motivated” cases filed during the previous Congress dispensation, including those against the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association led by BJP MP Anurag Thakur.
It decided to review all cases registered during the erstwhile Congress dispensation and withdraw those that “smack of political vendetta”.
Any decision in such cases would be taken on the basis of merit, the official said.
The cases over land allocation to the HPCA attained political significance as it was headed by Mr. Thakur and the decision to allot land was taken when his father Prem Kumar Dhumal was the Chief Minister.
HPBL to wound up
The Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, also decided to wind up Himachal Pradesh Beverages Limited set up last year to eliminate wholesalers and handle the liquor trade, an official said.
The BJP, while in the Opposition, criticised the decision of the government and alleged irregularities in procurement and sale of liquor. The government also decided to initiate inquiry into losses suffered by the government after the move.
The previous government had suspended licences issued to wholesalers and designated HPBL as sole agency for procurement and sale of liquor to retail vends.
The Cabinet also decided to fix the responsibility on officers, responsible for the creation of HPBL and revert to the old policy.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to disengage the counsels including Kapil Sibal, P. Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid for representing the State in various cases, including those against the HPCA.
