Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 29: RTI activist Balvinder Singh has raised serious concerns over the functioning of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jammu and Kashmir, accusing it of failing to act on its own findings in the alleged Government e-Marketplace (GeM) procurement scam involving the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) and the Rural Development Department.
Singh said that in April 2022 he had highlighted major irregularities in purchases made through GeM, following which the ACB launched an investigation headed by AIG (Policy) G S Ghuman. The inquiry, he asserted, confirmed huge losses to the public exchequer and revealed a nexus between departmental officials and selected vendors.
According to Singh, the ACB inquiry report flagged several cases of inflated pricing. He pointed out that USG machines were purchased at excessively high rates, leading to a loss of around Rs 19.60 lakh. Similarly, Radicon Binocular Polarizing Microscopes were overpriced, causing a loss of Rs 1.63 lakh. Even everyday items such as 32GB pen drives were bought for Rs 850 each against a market price of Rs 400. Printer cartridges purchased for Rs 4,800 each were allegedly available in the market for just Rs 630, representing a nearly 900 percent cost escalation.
Singh said the RTI reply he received from the ACB on September 25 confirmed that no FIR has been registered so far against either the officials or the beneficiaries, despite the detection of procurement fraud. He criticized the agency for recommending only recovery of the financial losses from vendors, while ignoring the role of Government officers who processed over 40 orders to a single vendor in a single day, violating Central Vigilance Commission guidelines and Rule 166 of GFR 2017.
He alleged that the ACB, despite having conducted a thorough inquiry, appears to be under pressure from higher authorities, resulting in “shielding of culpable officials.” Singh urged the Government and the General Administration Department (GAD) to immediately direct the ACB to file an FIR.
Prominent citizens including Rajinder Singh Sudan and Manmohan Singh attended the press briefing.
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