The Delhi government’s Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) has filed a case against former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and former Public Works Department (PWD) minister Satyendar Jain over charges of corruption in the construction of 12,748 classrooms under the Arvind Kejriwal-led government. The FIR (First Information Report) was filed by the Anti-Corruption Branch following approval from the appropriate authority under Section 17-A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Officials stated that a huge swindle of over Rs 2,000 crore was discovered during the AAP government’s development of 12,748 classrooms and other structures in Delhi. The ACB highlighted, “Significant deviations and cost escalations were observed, and not a single work was completed within the prescribed period. Consultant and Architect appointed without following due procedure, and cost escalations were carried out through him. Case registered after receiving permission u/s 17-A POC Act from the competent authority.”
No project concluded within timeframe
“Chief Technical Examiner’s report of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) pointed out several anomalies in the project and the report was kept under the carpet for about three years,” stated ACB chief Madhur Verma. During verification, he disclosed, it was discovered that the Expenditure Finance Committee’s meetings for the fiscal year 2015–16 had determined that the project would be finished by June 2016 at the approved cost, with no room for additional expenditure rises.
However, despite these directions, not a single work was completed within the prescribed period, and significant deviations and cost escalations were observed. During the enquiry, it was revealed that the examination report of the Chief Technical Examiner, Central Vigilance Commission, in the instant matter was issued on 17th February 2020, with the approval of the competent authority, however, the report was suppressed for about 3 years.
The report of CTE/CVC raised serious violations of various clauses of the CPWD Works Manual 2014, GFR 2017, CVC guidelines, and other irregularities and also unveiled that various decisions taken after the award of tenders were not in accordance with the laid guidelines of CVC and other manuals, which led to huge escalation of cost, resulting in financial loss. The CVC report also observed that ultimately, the actual cost of the constructed SPS was more or less equal to the cost of permanent structures.
Massive financial irregularities uncovered
The actual cost per sq. ft. of Priority-I, as worked out in the CVC report, is Rs. 2292 per sq. ft. against the cost of pucca structure model schools @2044 – 2416 per sq. ft. Due to the adoption of richer specifications, the construction cost of SPS classrooms almost matched the cost of pucca classrooms and apparently no financial benefit of adoption of SPS construction was achieved.
During the enquiry, it was observed that the tenders were floated and contracts were awarded for Rs. 860.63 crore. Subsequently, contract values escalated by 17% to 90% due to richer specifications. The escalation amounted to Rs. 326.25 crore, of which Rs. 205.45 crore was attributable to richer specifications, comprising 23.87% of the award value. No fresh tenders were invited to reflect these changes, contrary to CVC guidelines. In five schools, work worth Rs. 42.5 crore was executed without proper tenders, using existing contracts.
According to officials, several contractors connected to the AAP were apparently given the project. The anti-corruption agency reported that the classrooms were built at an exorbitant rate of Rs 8,800 per square foot, even though it is well known that the average construction cost, even for residential apartments, was approximately Rs 1,500 per square foot.
According to the report, the awarded tender specified that the overall cost for the construction of each classroom was roughly Rs 24.86 lakh, in contrast to the usual cost of about Rs 5 lakh for similar rooms in Delhi. A First Information Report has been lodged against the AAP leaders following President Droupadi Murmu’s consent for prosecution in March. When Sisodia and Jain were ministers in the Delhi government in 2022, its vigilance department requested an investigation into the scam and sent a report to the Chief Secretary.
Complaint submitted by BJP leaders
The complaints from Harish Khurana, Spokesperson, BJP Delhi Pradesh, Kapil Mishra, MLA, and Neelkanth Bakshi, Media Relations Department, BJP, were received regarding corruption in the construction of approximately 12,748 school classrooms at an expenditure of Rs. 2,892 crore. The lump sum cost for constructing one school room, as per the awarded tenders, is approximately Rs. 24.86 lakh per room, whereas such rooms could ordinarily be constructed in Delhi for around Rs. 5 lakh per room. Further, it was charged that the project was awarded to 34 contractors, the majority of whom are allegedly associated with Aam Aadmi Party.
Based on the aforementioned findings in the instant matter, a proposal to seek previous approval u/s 17-A POC Act was initiated against the former PWD and Education Ministers of the erstwhile Delhi Govt. The competent authority has accorded its approval to the proposal of ACB. Accordingly, an FIR has been registered at the Anti-Corruption Branch and a comprehensive investigation has been launched to unearth the whole conspiracy and fix the role and culpability of the alleged Ministers, known/unknown Govt. officials/contractors.
Over the past year, Sisodia and Jain have both been the subject of separate corruption investigations. While Jain was previously detained in a money laundering case, Sisodia is currently under investigation by the CBI and ED in relation to the Delhi excise policy issue.
(With inputs from ANI)
