 Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov 27: Within months after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) unearthed large-scale irregularities and manipulation in the recruitment of Firemen and Drivers in the Fire and Emergency Services (F&ES) Department, the Jammu and Kashmir Government on Thursday ordered the blacklisting of M/s LMES IT LLP and private vendor Maharaj Krishan Wali from all future recruitment-related bidding in the Union Territory.
According to an order issued by the Commissioner/Secretary of the General Administration Department (GAD), M. Raju, a committee had been constituted to probe the allegations. The committee submitted its report on February 10, 2024, following which the matter was referred to the ACB with the approval of the Competent Authority.
The ACB subsequently registered FIR No. 01/2025 at its Central Jammu Police Station against LMES IT LLP and scrutinised the role of its key shareholder, M.K. Wali. The findings were later examined by a reconstituted government committee.
Investigators found glaring violations by LMES IT LLP. Despite being the L-2 bidder, the firm was irregularly awarded the recruitment contract by bypassing the L-1 bidder. The company also lacked the mandatory experience of conducting recruitment of similar scale for at least two state/UT police organisations or central paramilitary forces, as required in the NIT.
The ACB further revealed that LMES had used the financial documents of another firm—M/s Energy & Software (P) Ltd.—for two of the three qualifying years, raising serious eligibility questions. LMES had quoted a negotiated rate of Rs 179 per candidate, compared to the L-1 bidder, M/s UMC Technology Pvt. Ltd., which had quoted Rs 107.50 per candidate.
Notably, the L-1 bidder was neither called for negotiations nor was its candidature formally rejected, the order states.
The Government also highlighted that M.K. Wali, who holds a 99% stake in LMES, had previously been associated with Timing Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (TTPL), whose recruitment contract for the same posts was cancelled in 2018 under government directions to replace the TRP firm.
The inquiry concluded that Wali was “unduly facilitated” and given preferential treatment by the F&ES Department.
Acting on the recommendations of the Home Department—via communications dated June 27, 2025, and September 16, 2025—the Competent Authority approved the proposal to black Over 100 undeserving candidates, including five real brothers from Budgam, were selected through fraudulent means, irregularities
The order reads, “Sanction is hereby accorded to the blacklisting of M/s LMES IT LLP, Registered Office: 1st Floor, ICICI Bank Building, Talab Tillo, Jammu; Corporate Office: F-23, Greenwood City, Sector-46, Gurugram, Haryana; and Mr. Maharaj Krishan Wali, Private Vendor, from participating in any recruitment-related bid conducted by the Government of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir under Rule 151 of GFR, 2017.”
The ACB probe into the Firemen and Drivers recruitment also revealed widespread manipulation of scores and selection lists.
During the investigation, sleuths found that more than 100 candidates who secured marks below the cutoff had been fraudulently shown as qualified. Out of 690 selected candidates, 109 had actually scored lower than the required cutoff but were listed with inflated marks.
In several shocking instances, candidates who had scored 11, 17, and 24 marks were shown as having scored 90 marks. The probe further found that five real brothers from Budgam had been selected, along with several other cases involving relatives of departmental officials and candidates from the same neighbourhoods.
Investigators also discovered that the question papers were far beyond the comprehension level of candidates whose minimum qualification was Class 8.
A manual assessment of the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets against answer keys exposed multiple discrepancies in the evaluation process.
The ACB noted that the recruitment process originated from Advertisement Notice No. 01 of 2013, issued on March 12, 2013, by the Chairman of the Departmental Recruitment Board (DRB) of the Fire & Emergency Services.
Although the DRB conducted the examination as per the advertisement, the Government terminated the entire process vide Order No. 381-Home of 2016 dated July 5, 2016, after discrepancies surfaced.
In 2018, recruitment was resumed in accordance with the original 2013 advertisement, following High Court directions. No amendments were made to the recruitment criteria.
The Government directed the process to be conducted through a Transparent Recruitment Process (TRP) via open bidding. Consequently, e-NIT No. 01 of 2018 dated April 5, 2018, was issued by the Directorate of F&ES. Hyderabad-based M/s Timing Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. was selected to conduct the physical and written examinations across the Union Territory. |
