Suspend corrupt PA of minister before retirement: Arappor Iyakkam
The payment rate needs to be calculated on the basis of the price of bitumen fixed by the Indian Oil Corporation - the system is popularly known as 'pass through basis.
Arappor Iyakkam convenor Jayaram Venkatesan
CHENNAI: Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-graft organisation, has urged the chief secretary Shiv Das Meena to suspend C Jayasekar, Special PA of minister EV Velu before his superannuation for his alleged involvement in Rs 750 Crore corruption in 2016-2017. The official will retire on August 31.
"As per the findings of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption as many 1131 officials are involved in violations of not applying price variation clauses as per tender resulting in a huge loss to the exchequer running into hundreds of crores, " Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of the organization, said in his complaint. He alleged as many as 1,131 officials are involved in the graft, including Jayasekar
The complaint added that the scam related to the bitumen works in the Rs 6000 Crore CRIDP scheme during 2014-15 and 2015-16. The payment for bitumen needs to follow Government Orders issued in June 2009, which is also included in the tenders and the agreements with contractors.
The payment rate needs to be calculated on the basis of the price of bitumen fixed by the Indian Oil Corporation - the system is popularly known as 'pass through basis.
"The very idea behind the issue of the Government Order is to adjust the contract price during the course of the execution and to make the payments according to the rise and fall of bitumen. The clause was not applied by the officials of the Highways Department while making payments to the contractors in the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 when the bitumen prices fell significantly, due to malafide intentions to cause unjust enrichment to contractors resulting in a huge loss of more than Rs 750 Crores of crores to the exchequer, " the complaint said.
Jayaram Venkatesan added that a civic activist G Balaji filed a complaint with DVAC in August and November of 2016 about the scam and approached the High Court seeking action.
"In the meantime, the Highways Department sensing trouble recovered a total of Rs 610 Crores from the contractors as of November 16, 2017. The actual loss is estimated to be more than Rs. 750 crores. It is not clear what happened to the recovery of the rest of the money, " he added.
The complaint urged the chief secretary to initiate departmental action against all the 1,131 officials irrespective of whether they are in service or retired.
