A nexus of contractors and university authorities have allegedly made a mockery of bidding rules and thrown caution to the wind by awarding contracts at much higher rates that were called for under the present dispensation in North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), sources have revealed.
Those interested in justice have waited for over a year for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to step in and reveal all the facts but have been disappointed so far.
It is learnt that the CBI has sought clearance, but not received the green signal, from the NEHU authorities to investigate a case of ‘replacement of feeder pillars in hostels and residential areas’ at an estimated cost of Rs 64.86 lakh. This tender was allegedly irregularly awarded at lakhs of rupees higher than required without consultation or approval of the competent authority, i.e. the university’s building committee. The officials involved concealed from the committee, it is alleged, that they had rejected lower quotes from a contractor before awarding the same person the job when he bid almost Rs 13 lakh above his first quote.
This issue was taken up by Member of the Legislative Assembly, Adelbert Nongrum, who has been vociferously demanding that the CBI take up this case, and others, as it involves an institution under the central government.
The case is particularly interesting and requires investigation because two rounds of tenders were called for which were both rejected and a third round for the same job with the same specifications for which the bids were received from the same parties as the earlier two were accepted. The third round of bids was at much higher rates and their acceptance was much to the surprise of some interested persons.
Giving details about the irregular way it was awarded, sources explained that in 2019 two tenders were received. One tender was rejected by the Executive Engineer because the contractor did not meet certain conditions. The other one was for Rs 58.89 lakh. This was rejected by a sub-committee because it was a single bid even though the building committee is the competent authority before which the sub-committee should have placed its report, sources said. It is also worth nothing that single bids had been accepted in other cases depending on the competency of the bidding firm.
Once again the tender was called a second time and again a single bid was received for Rs 58.37 lakh from a well-known contractor. It was 10 percent below the estimate. But, once again, the Executive Engineer rejected it allegedly without any reason being given. It has also been claimed that this rejection was illegal as it came after studying the financial bid.
The tender was then called for a third time. On this occasion the same contractors quoted an amount of Rs 71.02 lakh and Rs 71.34 lakh respectively.
These quotes were not rejected as had been done previously but were placed before the building committee in December 2019. Sources said that the Registrar is a member secretary of the building committee and he is responsible to appraise it of all the facts on the agenda. The committee decided to negotiate with the contractor and bring the rate to 5 per cent below.
The Executive Engineer conducted the negotiations with the bidder after which he sent a note to the Vice-Chancellor, through the Registrar, that same month that the contractor has agreed to work at 4.95 per cent above the estimate, forgetting the fact that the committee had asked for the amount to be brought below 5 per cent.
“Instead of below, they awarded the work 4.95 per cent above,” said a source, pointing out that the Registrar, Executive Engineer and VC, are not authorized to decide such matters contrary to the building committee’s decision. The committee claimed that it was not informed about the previous tenders and lower quotations by the Registrar, who was duty bound to do so, it is said.
All of this can only be clarified by a thorough investigation but the avenues are so far blocked.
Meanwhile, Highland Post has sought for inputs, via email, of the Superintendent of Police in the CBI Shillong office but there has, as yet, been no reply.
Speaking over the phone today, the SP’s office confirmed that it had received the email and would get back shortly.
