The Union Government’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has recently granted sanction to the anti-corruption branch (ACB) to prosecute a retired IAS officer for allegedly giving financial benefits to a private company that operated a passenger vehicles inspection and certification unit in north Delhi’s Burari back in 2007-08.
The man in concern is Mr. R K Verma, a retired 1984-batch IAS officer, who was posted as the Secretary-cum-Commissioner in the transport department when the Delhi government had procured three inspection and certification lanes for passenger vehicles from a US-based company.
The contentious issue arose after the transport department allegedly shrugged off the advice of the Automotive Research Association of India, the consultant in the project, and handed over the operation and maintenance of the inspection lanes to an Indian company with a similar name — amounting to a scam worth Rs. 100 Crores!
The principal accused of the case, ex-IAS Verma, had sought voluntary retirement in 2014. The DoPT’s order further suggests that under Mr. Verma’s authority, the department did not appoint a station manager to look after the equipment, which was a violation of the cabinet decision. It allegedly also gave the Indian company the order to install more lanes by misrepresenting the facts of proprietorship. Apparently, a supplementary agreement was also signed with the Indian company to increase the fees for a particular test though the equipment for it was not even installed!
As of now, the ACB has deduced (after carefully examining the relevant records, documents and reports) that sufficient evidence had been brought on records to establish that a prima facie case was made out for granting sanction for prosecution under Section 19 of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.
