262 tenders issued by VIDC under ACB scanner
| Date :25-Jul-2019 |
Staff Reporter:
Pre-qualification panel not innocent, feels ACB
HC seeks status report on irrigation projects in Vidarbha
Progress made
Chargesheets filed -- Five cases (In one case all five public servants discharged for want of permission)
Sanction awaited -- 11 cases mostly pertaining to Gosikhurd national project
FIRs filed -- Four more cases, further probe is on n Enquiry completed -- Four cases, proposal to prosecute public servant will be sent to competent authority
No irregularity -- 7 cases probed, no cognisable offence made out
Closure report sent -- One case
Probe in progress -- Five cases
As many as 262 tenders issued by Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) are under the scanner of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) as part of its probe into mind-boggling irrigation scam. These include 155 tenders pertaining to Gosikhurd national project, the cost of which ranges between Rs 1 crore and Rs 25 crore, and 107 tenders of other 16 projects. In all, ACB examined 1,650 tenders issued by VIDC and its special investigation team is now concentrating on 262 tenders of Nagpur division. In Amravati division, 24 projects are under open enquiry while four are under investigation and a dedicated special investigation team is going through voluminous records to determine culpability of public servants, contractors and other individuals including political bigwigs who manipulated the entire system to siphon of huge public money. A division bench consisting of Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Shriram Modak while hearing a PIL filed by Jan Manch and Atul Jagtap also directed the State Government and VIDC to place on record complete details of projects in Vidarbha, work completed so far and expenditure incurred along with estimated time of completion and money required within six weeks.
The High Court also asked ACB to file progress report of the ongoing probe during next hearing. The petitioners charged the ACB with going soft against the main players of the scam and wondered as to why the agency was citing so many technical problems to justify tardy and unsatisfactory progress. The ACB countered it stating that it was studying voluminous documents with the help of technical experts and was proceeding against those found guilty after careful scrutiny.
State Government has also appointed a three-member expert committee consisting of Secretary of Water Resources Department (WRD), a Chief Engineer rank officer and a Divisional Accounts Officer from the Accountant General’s office to help the SIT in technical matters arising during the course of enquiry. The ACB also revealed that VIDC officials had not supplied details of the work audit, technical audit, and documents relating to design of the project.
The ACB promised expeditious completion of ongoing probe in fair and transparent manner and asserted that the agency would take the investigation to its logical end. Interestingly, the ACB in its detailed affidavit filed before the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday also disagreed with a Government Resolution issued by Public Works Department granting complete protection to members of pre-qualification committee (PQC) with retrospective effect while asserting that their role was not above board. In fact, members of PQC were expected to check/scrutinise all the documents and work done certificates submitted by contractors. The ACB has asked WRD to look into the matter and cancel the retrospective immunity granted to members of PQC.
The affidavit also revealed that in one case, five officers of VIDC were discharged by special court since no permission to prosecute them was obtained from the competent authority required under amended Section 17 (A) and 19 (1) of Prevention of Corruption Act. The ACB has sought permission against all serving and retired public servants named in the FIRs filed as part of probe into irrigation scam. Besides, the orders of special court have been challenged before the High Court by way of criminal revision appeal. Many representatives of contractor company have also moved the High Court against rejection of their discharge application, the ACB stated while explaining the complex legal battle it is fighting. During last affidavit filed on November 26, ACB had directly indicated involvement of Ajit Pawar, the then all powerful Water Resources Minister and Deputy Chief Minister during Democratic Front regime, for presiding over a regime in which “procedures were bypassed, pecuniary benefits were passed on, sub-standard work allowed leading to drain upon public exchequer.”
The ACB had charged Pawar and VIDC top officials for “trying to hide behind framework of rules” in this “weird case of conspiracy,” in which VIDC officers “have conspired to cheat the government and defraud the public exchequer,” while acting in “an orchestrated manner.” Describing Pawar as “dramatis’ personae who put up this performance that cost the State dearly,” ACB had also revealed that it was looking into money-trail to unearth the entire conspiracy and prove criminal liability of high and mighty who were now citing technical rules to deny their responsibility. Wondering about “sinister similarity” in awarding irrigation contracts worth thousands of crores of rupees, ACB also noted that these “recurring features” were not merely coincidental and indicated “a criminal conspiracy to defraud the Government under the garb of subverted and sham procedures and through the instrumentalities of minions in the department and its corporations like VIDC.”
The irregularities took place during 2004-2008, and entire scam was exposed by ‘The Hitavada’ way back in 2012 and open enquiry was ordered by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on December 12, 2014 against Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare, and Chhagan Bhujbal. Four years later, the ACB filed a crystal clear affidavit, clearly hinting towards the master-mind of this mega scam running into thousands of crores of rupees. Jan Manch had submitted evidence against irregularities and highlighted that within a span of just seven months in 2009, cost of 38 irrigation projects under VIDC had escalated by a whopping Rs 20,050.06 crore -- from Rs 6,672.27 crore to Rs 26,722.33 crore.
Thirty out of these 38 projects got hurried approvals in just four days -- August 14, 2009 (11 projects); June 24, 2009 (10 projects); July 7, 2009 (5 projects), August 18, 2009 (4 projects). Cost of six of these projects went up by 6 times to 33 times of their original cost and in case of 12 projects, the cost shot up by more than twice the original estimates. Commenting on this mind-boggling scam spread over one-and-a-half decade, ACB claimed that it resulted in delay in projects, escalation of cost, denying gain to Vidarbha region and farmers and depriving them of multiple cropping and assured irrigation for decades. If these costs were to be quantified, the loss to the State exchequer and national wealth would be colossal. Adv Firdos Mirza (Jan Manch), Adv Shridhar Purohit (Jagtap) appeared for the petitioners. Special Counsel Anand Jaiswal and Sumant Deopujari, Government Pleader, represented the State.
What ACB probe has revealed so far The probe by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has revealed several aspects of the irrigation scam. Right from cartelisation to cost escalation, ACB probe has explored various dimensions of the case. Engineers and Accounts Officers of VIDC examined by ACB claimed innocence while contractors claimed that the works were awarded to them through a tender process and had nothing to do with cost escalation. They also passed on responsibility of forged pre-qualification (PQ) documents upon power of attorney holder. Ajit Pawar, the then Water Resources Minister, also took the defence that he took decisions based upon the recommendations of the Secretary level officer and that most of the decisions were at field level while taking cover under Rules 14 of Maharashtra Government Rules of Business and Instructions.
After careful scrutiny of documents and rules, ACB came to conclusion that there was a clear “cyclic pattern or modus operandi in most works related to Gosikhurd and Jigaon projects.” The cost of Gosikhurd project rose from Rs 372.22 cr in 1983 to Rs 18,494 cr which is 4968.70 per cent. In case of Jigaon project, the cost rose from Rs 394.83 crore in 1990 to Rs 5708.11 crore. ACB also pointed out cartelisation among contractors, issue of tender advertisement even before receiving technical sanction, issue of tender documents to non-eligible bidders and joint ventures even without their prior registration. Even the joint venture route was taken to avoid disqualification and to bag more than three contracts. In most cases, the pre-decided contractor paid earnest money deposit of other contractors and to avoid real competition reducing tender process to a mere farce.
According to ACB, 74.35 per cent of bids were above five per cent and no bid was at par or below the tender cost. Even in case of small tenders issued for Gosikhurd work, 145 tenders were higher than the tender cost by Rs 480.75 crore during Pawar’s tenure. In sharp contrast, the lowest bidder quoted below 20.65 per cent cost in the tenders issued during and after 2015. There was no provision to provide mobilisation advance to contractors under VIDC rules but it was done in clear departure of statutory framework. The total amount of mobilisation advance is Rs 182.96 crore in Gosikhurd project, and Rs 12.11 crore in Jigaon project.
Even these proposals were not routed through Principal Secretary, Water Resources Department (WRD), though grant of mobilisation advance was a policy matter and should have been routed through the officer, the ACB noted while slyly endorsing yet another charge against Pawar. The ACB noted several flaws in cost escalation mechanism adopted during Democratic Front regime when Pawar was at the helm of affairs and noted that effort was made to somehow fit the updated cost within margin of five per cent of tender cost to avoid any liability. It is impossible that experienced field officers of WRD and VIDC would dare to do such acts in normal course of their working, the ACB pointed out while hinting at the higher-ups in the chain of command.