A minister from the Indian state of Punjab has been found running a department that never existed for 20 months. The scam came to light after a gazette notification was issued by the chief secretary of the state saying that the department allotted to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal was "not in existence". 

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“In partial modification of the previous Punjab govt notification regarding the allocation of portfolios, among ministers, the department of administrative reforms earlier allotted to Dhaliwal is not in existence as of date," the notification read. 

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It further stated that Dhaliwal's portfolio has been amended and now he will only hold the portfolio of NRI affairs in the Punjab cabinet. The amendment was done on 7 February on the order of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwat Mann. 

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Dhaliwal used to lead the agriculture and farmers welfare department earlier - but his portfolio was changed in May 2023 during a Cabinet reshuffle. He was then assigned to the administrative reforms department.

In September 2024, another Cabinet reshuffle took place, but Dhaliwal remained in his position for the department that only existed on paper for nearly 20 months. No staff was hired for the department and no meetings were held. 

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'Crisis in Punjab'

As the notification of the bizarre mess-up came, the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Punjab government. Taking to the social media platform X, BJP leader Amit Malviya said, “You can imagine the crisis in Punjab government if it took nearly 20 months to realise that a department assigned to one of its prominent ministers never actually existed. Arvind Kejriwal is a charlatan who must be banished from public life.”

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National spokesperson for the BJP, Pradeep Bhandari also criticised the AAP-led government in the state as he wrote on X, "AAP has made Governance in Punjab a joke! The AAP Minister ran a department for 20 Months which never existed! Imagine for 20 months the CM did not even knew that a minister was running a " NON EXISTENT DEPARMENT."

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(With inputs from agencies)