Major scams are being orchestrated in the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun to deprive local enterprises of the chance to even participate in the tender process of advertisement hoardings. The Human Rights Protection Centre head Justice (retd) KD Shahi said this while addressing the media on Thursday. Addressing the media, Shahi said that following news reports on alleged corruption in the MCD, the HRPC inquired into the allegations and found that corruption was at peak in the corporation.
He said, “The tender process for advertisement hoardings concluded recently was also marred by corruption. It was also proved that the companies involved in the process had indulged in pooling but the authorities have not taken any concrete action yet even though the Competition Commission of India prohibits any type of pool.” The HRPC also observed that the MCD officials had not executed their responsibilities honestly and intentionally deferred the registration/renewal of more than a dozen advertisement agencies to prevent them from participating in the tender process. By doing so the MCD has blatantly violated the human rights and did not provide equal and full opportunity to the locals, he added.
He further said that the corporation did not let one company to participate in the tender process even though the company was registered with the MCD and had all relevant documents. We will bring this issue to the notice of the Human Rights Commission and the proper judicial authority eliciting focus on violation of The Competition Act 2007 provisions,” he added. Raj Asthana of HRPC said that the MCD had been denying business opportunities to local enterprises for years.
“The registration of Divya Himgiri Media Solutions was cancelled a day before the tenders were opened and the company was informed about this at the last minute to prevent it from participating in the process. The MCD did not register or renew the registration of many local advertising agencies to prevent them from bidding for the advertisement hoardings. At present the registration/renewal of 14 such agencies is still pending in the MCD. A major scam has been orchestrated around the advertisement hoardings in the MCD for about five years now. Following allegations of major anomalies, the inquiry into the allegations was handed over to officials who were on the tender committee. Since there is a conflict of interest, we are seeking a high level and fair inquiry into the allegations,” he said.