Purchases for schools: Vigilance raid at Thiruvananthapuram corporation office uncovers irregularities

New Indian Express

19 hours ago

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths on Thursday conducted a raid at the Thiruvananthapuram corporation in connection with an investigation into alleged irregularities in the purchase of computers and allied equipment for schools between 2022-24. The raid, conducted at the people's plan wing, began at 11am and lasted till 5.30pm.
The scheme for supplying computers to schools within city limits was implemented with Rs 1.35 crore from the development fund of the corporation. Vigilance had received information about massive irregularities in the execution of the project.
Sleuths were tipped off about anomalies in preparing specifications for the purchase materials and in the tendering process. Contrary to the government directive, desktop computers were believed to have been purchased, instead of laptops. As many as 244 desktop computers and 193 UPS devices were purchased from private firms, allegedly resulting in a loss of Rs 20 lakh to the corporation.
During the raid, it was found that the tendering process did not fully conform with norms. Gadget specification, warranty and quality check papers, besides the delivery challan and GST documents of firms that were part of the project were found to be missing from the files.
It also emerged that the purchase of computers contravened existing government rules that mandated purchase of laptops, instead of desktops, for students.
The vigilance department had earlier received complaints that technical and purchase committees were not formed to implement the project.
Also, the project was reportedly implemented without the ratification of the technical committee, which is responsible for ascertaining the quality of materials. Another grave allegation was that the firms that supplied the UPS devices did not have GST registration at the time the project was implemented. However, despite this they were paid `92,973 as GST, which translated to a loss of that amount for the corporation.
Vigilance sources said prima facia it appears that the allegations levelled against the corporation have merit and a detailed inquiry will be conducted.
20L loss to corporation