Punjab local bodies dept cancels order of tree pruning machine

MOHALI : Acting on the inquiry report of retired additional district and sessions judge BR Bansal, indicting four officials of the Mohali MC for discrepancies in the purchase of a tree pruning machine, the Punjab local bodies department on Thursday terminated the order with M/s Cosmic Healers for purchase of the machine.

The department also blacklisted the company barring it from participating in any tendering process of the Mohali MC for three years.

The department further asked the company to deposit the advance amount of ₹89 lakh paid by the civic body with 12% annual interest within 21 days from now

Bansal’s report had found several discrepancies in the tendering process of issuing purchase orders to the firm. Following the inquiry, the four MC officers have been summoned by the additional chief secretary of local bodies, Sanjay Kumar, on June 19, where the further course of action will be decided.

The officials include executive engineer Naresh Batta, now in Hoshiarpur; deputy controller finance and accounts (DCFA) Vinayak Kumar, now in Ludhiana; assistant corporation engineer Mohinder Pal, now sub-divisional engineer (SDO) posted at the head office of the local bodies department in Sector 35, Chandigarh, and junior engineer Surinder Goel, now retired.

Tenders were floated on September 26, 2016, for ₹1.80 crore after Mohali MC decided to buy the machine. But, the machine was never delivered.