AFTER RAID, CBI BOOKS SATYENDAR JAIN IN PWD CASE
NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday booked Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain in a case of alleged corruption in hiring a creative team for the Public Works Department (PWD). The investigating agency also conducted raids at five places in the city in connection in the case.
In the case, which was registered on Tuesday, the CBI named four other former PWD officials, namely engineer-inchief S K Srivastava, principal director (Projects) Manu Amitabh, Deputy Director (Admininstration), A K Pait, project manager P C Chanana.
The CBI teams carried out searches at various locations, including the residence of Jain, and the other accused.
Jain took to Twitter during the raid, saying, “Cbi raids my house for hiring creative team by PWD. Professionals were hired for different projects. All were forced to leave by cbi.”
On April 5 last year, the CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry into the matter and converted it into a regular case after it allegedly found prima facie evidence.
After a long investigation, it registered a case under section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, as well as sections 13 (2) and 13 (1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The agency claimed ot found that Jain had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with officials of the PWD to award the tender to Soni Detective and Allied Services for hir- ing the ‘creative team’ for the Department’s works.
It also alleged that the accused persons abused their official positions and committed criminal misconduct in as much as that they while working in the capacity of public servants changed the terms and conditions so as to make the said firm eligible for participating in the tender.
The CBI also stated that a UO note issued by then Officer on Special Duty to Jain, DC Goel, had proposed hiring of the creative team for elaborate brainstorming and planning not only architectural designs of government buildings but also developing cost-effective methods of construction.
In September 2015, it was proposed that young professionals from reputed institutions such as the IITS, NITS, NID, SPA and IIMS could be hired with monthly emoluments ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh for the creative team, as the PWD did not have such in-house capacity, the enquiry report said.
“No minutes of any meeting held by Satyendar Jain, Minister of PWD, are available based on which this decision to hire the creative team was purportedly taken. Similarly, there was no request from the PWD for the hiring of such a creative team,” the agency alleged.
The CBI further alleged that the expenditure of the creative team, which was initially planned to be charged from the budget head of elevated corridor for BarapullahIII, was dishonestly changed to that of 1,000 Mohalla clinics on February 19, 2016, which is improper and in violation of various guidelines of the Finance department.
The condition for hiring professionals from the IITS and similar esteemed institutes was gradually diluted and finally omitted from the notice for the tender issued on March 15, 2016, it claimed. No market survey was done prior to the fixing of remunerations of the consultants, the agency alleged.
The funds for architects and consultants could be met from savings of a project as per the Central PWD manual but only in case of urgent requirement, while in this case no such urgent requirement was part of the records, it alleged.