Home Ministry has recommended that the CBI investigate a Delhi Transport Corporation deal involving the purchase and Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) of 1,000 low-floor air-conditioned buses. A committee led by Lt Governor Anil Baijal had identified several flaws.
On August 16, MHA Additional Secretary (Union Territory) Govind Mohan informed Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev of the Centre’s decision. The L-G secretariat sent paperwork about the transaction to the MHA on July 2, after the committee recommended that the AMC be cancelled.
JBM Auto and Tata Motors were granted the purchase tender in a 70:30 split, and JBM Auto was also the L1 bidder in the AMC bidding. The DTC issued two different tenders last year to procure 1,000 low-floor AC buses and their AMC, which are at the centre of the controversy. The DTC reasoned that a single offer for both objectives might not have drawn enough bids, so it opted to divide the process.
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However, the situation was tainted when the three-member committee pointed out that the AMC tender’s qualifying requirements “defeated the objective of dividing the bids.” The committee, established on June 16, included principal secretary (transport) Ashish Kundra, principal secretary (vigilance) K R Meena, and retired IAS OP Agarwal. The committee stated in an 11-page report that the AMC promotes “cartelization” and “monopoly pricing.” It also included the purchase and AMC tendering sequence, claiming that it created a situation where both bidders were aware that they were the only ones in the game.
In its findings, the committee stated that it “focused its attention solely on the buying procedure of AMC of the buses.” Vijender Gupta, the Opposition leader in the Delhi Assembly, has also urged a CBI inquiry into the incident. The purchase and AMC contracts were both placed on hold on June 12 by the Delhi government. However, the agreement has not yet been cancelled. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accused the BJP of “trying to tarnish the image of the AAP administration by levelling false charges” during a webcast on July 10. Sisodia’s remark was based on the committee’s assessment that the tendering procedure for bus purchases “need no involvement” and “had no serious flaws.”
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