Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday issued notices to three senior IAS officers for unnecessarily delaying the files seeking sanctions for lodging FIR against those found responsible in preliminary probe of vigilance bureau in the alleged Meinhardt scam case.
Due to the delay payment of Rs 13 crore was made by the Ranchi Municipal Corporation to Meinhardt, a Singapore based consultancy firm, assigned to provide consultancy work for the sewerage and drainage system in Ranchi.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice S Chandrashekhar issued notices to Cabinet Coordination Secretary JB Tubid, Road and Building construction Secretary Rajbala Verma and Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Vinay Kumar Chaubey for deliberately delaying approval seeking sanctions against the responsible persons,” said High Court advocate Rajiv Kumar.
The officers had been asked to file counter affidavit personally or by their representatives by September 2, added Kumar.
After receiving complaints against the company a committee of Jharkhand Assembly ordered a preliminary enquiry to the Vigilance bureau in 2010. During the inquiry, it was revealed that several irregularities were committed while preparing the DPR for the drainage and sewerage system of Ranchi.
According to Kumar, despite several reminders sent by the then IG Vigilance, both Tubid and Verma deliberately delayed in giving sanctions to them. In the mean time, a payment of Rs 13 Crore was released by the then RMC CEO Vinay Kumar Chaubey for the company, added Kumar.
“In 2012 we moved to the High Court again where the vigilance was asked to file affidavit and notices were issued on Wednesday,” he added.Although, a proposal based on the DPR prepared by Meinhardt involving a cost of Rs 1,649.82 crore was prepared but the state failed to execute the project.
The urban development department, by floating a new tender chose Meinhardt in 2006 after it cancelled Operation Research Group’s (ORG) contract in June 2005 as it failed to submit any report. Meinhardt was sanctioned 18 months to complete the task. ORG however, moved to Jharkhand High Court challenging the termination of its contract.
Meinhardt, on the other hand, was caught in a controversy with some legislators claiming “foul play” in its selection process. In 2007, the Assembly constituted a committee, headed by former BJP MlA Sarayu Roy, to look into the matter. The panel submitted a report, confirming lapses in selection.
The agency, which had handed over the DPR, asked the RMC to clear its fees, but it did not do so as the dispute were yet to be settled. Meinhardt sought High Court’s intervention asking the government to clear its dues.