Former NIRD officials booked by CBI for irregularities costing Rs 1.5 cr
The officials called for quotation in 2016 and struck a deal at a cost of Rs 3,800 for printing pages even before the contract ended
Hyderabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Hyderabad, booked a case against former officials of National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) for allegedly committing irregularities, causing a loss of Rs 1.5 crore to the institution.
The Central agency booked cases against Dr. Rajanikanth, the then associate professor, CWE, NIRD, Dr Papamma, the then editor and Sh. Sridhar Goud, accounts officer (training). It also filed cases against Aluri Siva Rama Krishna Prasad, director of M/s Balaji Scan Pvt Ltd, Varam Sudhakar Reddy, proprietor of M/s Vaishnavi Laser Graphics and other unknown persons.
The NIRD entered into rate contract agreements with Ms Balaji Scans Pvt. Ltd represented by Siva Rama Krishna Prasad and M/s. Vaishnavi Laser Graphics represented by Sudhakar Reddy in 2012 and again in 2016. The contract was pertaining to printing material of a course.
The NIRD was designing the course material for the nationwide orientation programme of Barefoot Technicians (BFT) in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
While the contract was agreed between the NIRD and M/s. Balaji Scans Pvt. Ltd for printing pages of multi-coloured sets and for binding works for Rs 2,800 per set and Rs 7 per binding respectively in 2012, the binding works control was given to M/s. Vaishnavi Laser Graphics.
Investigation revealed that even before the contract ended, the officials called for quotation in 2016 and struck a deal at a cost of Rs 3,800 for printing pages of multi coloured sets and Rs 35 for binding works as against the agreed rates. They paid Rs 51.09 lakh on each occasion for printing BFT training material between 2016-19 four times.
Further, the NIRD paid Rs 4.74 crore to both M/s. Balaji Scans Pvt. Ltd and M/s. Vaishnavi Laser Graphics, allegedly causing a loss of Rs 1.56 crore which was paid in excess to both these firms towards paper cost, printing cost, binding charges and taxes.
Based on the allegations that unidentified officials of the NIRD resorted to several irregularities and awarded high value printing works on quotation basis, in violation of General Financial Rules (GFRs) and made payments without obtaining proper sanctions/ approvals and wrongly certified that the rates were within the approved rate contracts, the CBI launched a preliminary probe.
The enquiry revealed that there was prima facie evidence against Dr Rajanikanth, Dr Papamma, and Sh. Sridhar Goud and the possibility of the active involvement of other concerned officials, based on which the CBI booked a case.
The NIRD is an autonomous organisation under the ministry of rural development and undertakes a lot of printing works on a regular basis pertaining to training material.