Withdraw ORR Legal Notice orRevanth Reddy Warns IAS Officer Arvind Kumar
Hyderabad: TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy on Tuesday warned IAS officer Arvind Kumar of civil and criminal action if he does not withdraw legal notices issued to him on May 25 on the ORR (Outer Ring Road) lease issue.
Replying through his advocate to a legal notice sent by Arvind Kumar, Revanth Reddy charged: “Arvind Kumar IAS is the principal secretary of municipal department, metropolitan commissioner and other important responsibilities. There are service rules about how an IAS officer should act and perform his responsibilities. But Arvind Kumar is acting as a politician without following those rules and is not giving the information asked for.”
“According to All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968, an IAS officer should act neutrally without political motives. But Arvind Kumar speaks on behalf of the ruling party. Half of Nehru ORR falls under Malkajgiri Parliament constituency, which I represent as an MP. Even though there is a possibility of getting higher income, the government's income has been compromised and the ORR toll collection tender has been awarded to IRB for 30 years for only Rs 7,380 crore,” Revanth Reddy said in the letter.
Claiming rules were flouted, Revanth Reddy said, “All the rules were arbitrarily violated in the course of awarding the IRB tender. As the HMDA Master Plan ends in 2031, the lease given for 30 years will cause problems after that year. Moreover, no road in the country has been given for more than 15-20 years. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had suggested the tender period should be for 15-20 years, but its counsel has been ignored and lease given for 30 years.”
Revanth Reddy also reeled out contravention of rules, saying, “A retired officer was appointed in place of the IAS officer and the ORR tender process was completed. HMDA was replaced by HGCL (Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited) while the tender process continued.
Moreover, there was no response from Arvind Kumar, whom we requested many times to disclose the base price related to the ORR tender. The traffic on ORR, the report of the assessors evaluating the value of the tender is also not being placed in the public domain. All of this strengthens the suspicion that something is fishy in the tendering process.”
“In this context, as a public representative, I responded as it is my responsibility. I was stopped and arrested when I was going to find out the required information through RTI. Without answering the information asked, Arvind Kumar is launching a counter attack like a politician,” Revanth charged in the letter.
“The allegations against me in the legal notice are false. The notice sent by Arvind Kumar is against the spirit of democracy. It has been given in order to help the ruling party suppress irregularities being questioned. I will continue to fight on behalf of the people,” Revanth said.
Meanwhile, reacting to the reply by Revanth Reddy, HMDA said, “The bid process of ORR toll, operate and transfer (TOT) was carried out in the most transparent manner, duly following the laid norms for TOT bid by NHAI. The TOT bid for 30 years is in accordance with the decision of the council of ministers and it is further clarified that two bids of NHAI were finalised for a period of 30 years and it is not the first time that a TOT bid has been done for 30 years.”
It also clarified that a reply to Revanth Reddy’s RTI query was submitted to him within the prescribed timeline and there was no question of withholding any information regarding the ORR TOT bid process.
