| Ruhullah was first sidestepped, later stripped of portfolio | | |  Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 9: An incident quoted by CAG in its report has brought forth chilling reality of how incapacitated ex-Minister for Science and Technology Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi was during his tenure until he was removed and replaced with a Minister of State (MoS) from Kargil when NC-Congress coalition Government was in the office.
The incident has brought alive the debate about who controlled the Ministers during Omar's tenure and how powerful the Ministers were. According to CAG, the nodal agency for New and Renewable Energy Projects in J&K, JKEDA placed orders on October 26, 2009 for supply of 11,227 Solar Home Lightening System (SHLS) for Rs. 11.24 crore. This supply order was placed without the approval of the JKEDA board and it was split into 14 supply orders in order to avoid cheques being jointly signed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Commissioner/ Secretary.
According to CAG, the then Minister Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi took serious note of the matter and ordered cancellation of supply order in November 2009. But what could be termed as complete bypass of the Cabinet Minister's directions, JKEDA did not cancel the supply order placed with Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals (DGS&D). The agency preferred not to heed to the directions of the Minister who had suspected some foul play.
Further, DGS&D rate contract was to lapse by October 31, 2009. The new DGS&D rate contract for the systems was lower (Rs. 12,500) than the previous rate contract (Rs. 12,978). This lead to loss of Rs. 32.81 lakh, something which could have been avoided had the department heeded to the directions of the Minister. When audit asked the Union Ministry for New and Renewable Energy to explain this, it stated in May 2015 that records show that at the time of final Settlement, State nodal agency had to certify that the CVC guidelines have been followed while selecting the contractor.
JKEDA preferred to bypass even these guidelines. Not only this, Rs. 2.86 crore from Union Ministry for New and Renewable Energy had been utilized on unapproved items like purchase of five vehicles, Petrol, Oil and Lubricants, Travelling Allowance, air fares, lunch in hotels, repair of vehicles, hiring of vehicles, office equipment, wage during 2008-14. Whether Ruhullah knew about this or not is something which only an in-depth probe would reveal but it remains a fact that his Ministry was being run purportedly from a room in the Chief Minister's office.
Audit further observed that the JKEDA relied on the lists of remote villages/ beneficiaries framed by the Rural Development Department, which were vetted by the concerned Deputy Commissioners. It was seen in audit that long term as well as short term targets had not been fixed for electrification. On being asked, Union Ministry stated that identification of beneficiary and survey for demand of electricity was a State subject and a clarification will be sought from JAKEDA with reference to expenditure. |
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