Punjab: Top bureaucrat apologises to Ministers in Cabinet meet, row ends

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The Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh (IAS:1984:KL) has amicably ended the stand-off with the ministers, by apologizing to them in a cabinet meet specially called for the purpose. The later accepted his apology.

The chief secretary also assured the Cabinet that this would not be repeated in the future.

The apology and its acceptance ended in about five minutes and the Cabinet moved on to the agenda.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal told the media that the CS had apologised for “his choice of words, his body language and his attitude that day and said he would not repeat it in future.” He added: “Democracy has won. In democracy, representatives of the people are more important than bureaucracy.”

Manpreet Badal was the first one to protest and walk out on CS during a meeting alleging misbehavior by the CS. Later, the Cabinet had joined the boycott of any meeting with CS present. CM Amarinder Singh stepped in to diffuse the row which continued for 18 days beginning May 9. Several MLAs had also joined in and demanded Karan Avtar Singh’s ouster.