Money from Punjab state exchequer spent on advertisements issued to a television channel by the Punjab public relations department, was going into the pockets of ruling Badal family, said a document placed on record before the Punjab and Haryana high court.
 The court has asked chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to respond to the allegation. Application was placed on record by a division bench comprising Justice M M Kumar and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina. It's all in the family as Sukhbir Badal is the state public relations minister, a portfolio earlier held by his brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia.
And, the money was routed to a channel owned by the Badals through an agency owned by Sukhbir's wife and Akali MP from Bathinda, Harsimrat Badal, the document said. However, the exact amount chanelled in this fashion has not been mentioned. Stunning revelations surfaced on Friday in the application filed by barrister Himmat Singh Shergill during the hearing of an ongoing public interest litigation (PIL) filed by him, challenging Punjab's transport policy allegedly manipulated for personal profits by the Badal family.
 In his application, Shergill said, "It is pertinent to bring to the notice of the high court that government of Punjab gives advertisements to PTC channels worth huge amounts of money which is under the aegis of G-Next Media Private Limited, a subsidiary company of Gur-Baz Media Private Ltd, which is further a subsidiary of Orbit Resorts Private Limited." "Orbit Resorts, owned by the Badal family, has around 99% shares in Gur Baz Media, which has 99.97% shares in G-Next Media, under which PTC channels are run. The government advertisements issued to the channels were actually translating into monetary benefit to the companies, in which the Badal family have substantial interest," Shergill stated.
 He submitted to the court that as per documents of the Union ministry of corporate affairs, Harsimrat Badal is the managing director of Orbit Resorts Private Limited and drawing a remuneration of Rs 3.60 crore per annum. "Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Badal, Harsimrat Badal, her brother Bikram Singh Majithia, his father-in-law Satyajit Singh Majithia, his mother-in-law Sukhmanjus Majithia, his sister Praneet Kaur Kairon have been shareholders in Orbit Resorts Private Limited at some time or at all times. They also have stake in Baaz Transporters Private Limited,
 Dabwali Transport and Real Estate Private Limited," the application said. In support of his claims, Shergill annexed documents of these companies owned by Badals. He said these were procured from the Union ministry of corporate affairs with the assistance of a chartered accountant and company secretary. In his application, Shergill has sought an inquiry of the entire issue by CBI or any other agency not under the direct or indirect control of the CM and his son, or from a sitting or a retired high court judge. The case would come up for hearing on December 14.