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| After Peerzada, SAC serves notice to FM in Smart Card Scam case | | | Early Times Report
jammu, Feb 22: After giving sleepless nights to Minister for Public Enterprises Peerzada now the State Accountability Commission (SAC) has issued notice to the Finance Minister, Abdul Rahim Rather who has been asked to appear in person or through counsel before the commission on March 6, 2012 in connection with Smart Card allegations.
The notice was issued by a bench of the SAC comprising Justice YP Nargotra (Rtd) Chairperson and Justice Hakim Imtiyaz Hussain (rtd) Member in a complaint filed by Yuva Shakti Vikas Mission.
According to the petitioner Abdul Rahim Rather, gave a contract worth Rs 2 crores to his son, in respect of preparing Smart Cards for the Secretariat employees, in gross violation of the codal formalities. The petitioner further alleged that Rather's son was not qualified to run such a project.
The petitioner has made mention of a recent `treaty' and commission worth Rs 12 Crore earned by Abdul Rahim Rather in respect of computerization of employees' data base commonly known as Computerized Personal Information System (CPIS) of about 5 lakh employees of the State and temporary employees of different categories.
It is further reported that in order to grab the recently sanctioned Rs 356 Crore for conservation/ preservation of Dal Lake by the Central Government, the Finance Minister hatched a plan in order to study the so-called Dal Catchments.
A few cable firms have been nominated for the so-called study of the catchments, in gross violation of the codal formalities to mint more money in the name of preservation/ conservation of the Dal."
Petition also alleged Dr Farooq Abdullah, gave a big contract worth Rs 16 Crore, to the son of Aslam Khan (a known to Farooq Abdullah) for imparting Secretariat Training courses, to the Secretariat employees, in gross violation to the codal formalities."
As per allegation against Abdul Rahim Rather relating to the grant of Smart Cards as per the stand of the Government, "Project for preparation of Bio-matric based attendance monitoring system through smart cards was allotted to the J&K Bank, which after due process finalized the vendors for implementation of the said Project in Civil Secretariat, J&K.
It has further been stated that the J&K Bank has signed the Purchase order for the Project and the J&K Bank has also finalized and signed MOU with ITD J&K Government. This MOU has been drafted after consultation with IT Department, J&K Government, however the signed copy is still awaited from IT Department.
It has also been stated that warranty was for one year from May 10, 2010 to May 9, 2011 and subsequently AMC had to be entered into. 'As per the agreed Mou with J&K Government, J&K Bank would facilitate an Agreement between, J&K Government and Vendor that would cover various aspects. In this context J&K Bank has sent across multiple communications requesting ITD J&K Government for finalization of the AMC agreement'.
The SAC further observed that at this stage without going into the question whether there is any connection between any or all of the vendors and Abdul Rahim Rather, one thing is apparent that the Government's action in out-sourcing the project to the J&K Bank which is neither an expert in handling such like projects nor is an instrumentality of the State, prima facie appears to be not justified.
SAC further has questioned if third party agencies were to be engaged for the Project why the same was not done directly by the State Government? Had the State itself undertaken to engage third party agencies directly for execution of the project it could have validly done so by inviting open bids. Why the Government did not at least insist upon the Bank for making selection of third party by inviting open Bids?
"Why an amount of Rs 24,82,061/- was released in favour of the J& K Bank when it had not directly executed the contract assuming that at the behest of the State Government, the Bank was facilitating the execution of the project, questioned the SAC.
As per the record furnished by the Government, it transpires that when the J&K Bank raised the claim of Rs 24,82,061/- against the Government on account of execution of the said project, it came to be noticed that codal formalities/ requirements had not been complied with by the Government and, therefore, opinion of the Finance Department which is being headed by Abdul Rahim Rather was sought by the concerned.
The Finance Department instead of ordering the cancellation of the project and action against the persons responsible for outsourcing of the project and violation of the codal provisions vide its U.O. No. A/ 58 (2010)-360 dated March 31, 2011 advised the concerned Department to obtain the Cabinet approval for 'out of the procedure' action and then execute an agreement with J&K Bank to safeguard all interests of the Government regarding functioning of the system during its warranty period and thereafter followed by a fully defined and comprehensive maintenance contract as part of the project. Further the Finance Department also advised that a third party expert inspection/ verification of the system be got conducted. Subsequently the Information Technology Department took up the matter for approval with the Cabinet of J&K State. The Cabinet vide its decision No. 145/19/2011 approved for release of payment to the J&K Bank for the said project.
It may be significant to note that without entering agreement as suggested by the Finance Department the payment was released in sheer violation/out of procedure.
SAC further said that as regards the next allegation against Abdul Rather relating to the granting of the contract for Computerized Personal Information System for the employees of the State, as per the stand of the Government no contract process was involved and the NIC which is a Government of India Organization has been entrusted with the task of preparation of CPIS. In view of the said response this allegation appears to be without any substance.
In regard to the third allegation relating to Dal Catchments, according to the stand of the Secretary, J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LWADA) has not awarded any contract to any firm regarding the high resolution satellite data analysis in the catchments area. Instead as per the provisions of the Detailed Project Report regarding conservation/ Management of Dal/ Nagin Lake, a GIS study is being contemplated for which 'Expression of Interest' was invited by the Watershed Manager, Watershed Management Division vide No. WMD/61/319-22 dated June 2, 2011 and No. WMD/61/323-26 dated June 2, 2011 through official website.
SAC further observed that allegations made against Farooq Abdullah former CM J&K and presently Union Minister, it can be safely said that it has no foundation to stand.
The anti-graft body observed that from the response of the Government in reply to the query as to whether any contract for imparting Secretarial Training to the Secretariat Employees was allotted in favour of any person or firm within the period of ten years.
In the above back-ground only allegation relating to the preparation of Smart cards leveled against Abdul Rahim Rather, Finance Minister deserves cognizance and regular inquiry by this Commission in exercise of the power vested in it and directed Office to register the complaint for regular inquiry in terms of Section 13 of the Act and issue notice to the respondent Abdul Rahim Rather, for appearance in person or through counsel before the Commission on March 6, 2012. JNF |
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