‘Time to make trustees of public money accountable’
Issues directions to bring transparency in system
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Dec 9: Comparing several Government officers with ‘Kumbhkarna’, brother of Demon King Ravana, Acting Chief Justice of J&K High Court Justice Rajesh Bindal today said that they woke up from the deep slumber only after being repeatedly scolded and because of this people of Jammu and Kashmir remain deprived of better facilities.
Moreover, Justice Bindal has once again expressed displeasure over the working of the Government offices in the Union Territory and said that the casualness of the officers is causing huge loss to the public exchequer. He has also issued slew of directions to the Chief Secretary in order to bring transparency in the system and to create better infrastructure by judiciously spending the taxpayers’ money.
While dismissing a petition filed by M/s National India Construction Company challenging rejection of bid submitted in response to the Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for construction of a road under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Justice Rajesh Bindal observed, “this court is once again constrained to comment on the working of offices in Jammu & Kashmir as to how lightly the litigation is taken”, adding “the result of this casualness is causing huge loss to the public exchequer. Moreover, the casualness is not limited to the department in question but there is hardly any difference in working of all the departments. Less said is better”.
“In the case in hand and what is seen in other cases filed against the Government in this court, replies/objections are not filed in some cases even for a decade. It is not limited to main petitions but even in contempt petitions, compliance report is not filed for long time”, the Acting Chief Justice remarked, adding “this not only results in denying fruits of litigation to the succeeding party but even lowers public trust in the judicial institution”.
Mentioning that the Supreme Court had compared a litigant approaching the court after huge delay with ‘Kumbhkarna’, the Acting Chief Justice said, “I think if considered in that light, for filing of replies/objections in the cases pending in this court, the Government officials are no better”, adding “as has been mentioned in Ramayana, Demon King Ravana had to use lot of noise and different means to wake up Kumbhkarna, when his kingdom was in trouble. Here also the Government officials are to be woken up from slumber by using different means”.
About the case in hand, Acting Chief Justice said, “the project for creation of infrastructure in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir had been put on hold, on account of interim stay granted by this court on 17.04.2018”, adding “as usual the department was sleeping over the matter. They did not even take care to file objections immediately after receipt of notice. Apparently sleeping over a matter may be more suitable for the reasons best known to them but the result remains that the people of Jammu & Kashmir remain deprived of better infrastructure facilities”.
Pointing towards the order passed on May 15, 2019 wherein serious concern was expressed over delay in filing of objections in the matter relating to the developmental works, Justice Bindal said, “despite this order the official respondents continued sleeping over the matter for more than one year and objections were not filed to the writ petition”.
“To wake them up, they had to be scolded. Now it was a communication from the Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Government of India, mentioning details of various works under PMGSY. For the works to be executed under PMGSY-2 the period of completion was up to March 31, 2020. It was mentioned that number of works were still pending for execution in Jammu and Kashmir, whereas some had still not been awarded despite sanction granted long back”, High Court observed.
In the communication, it was clearly mentioned that in case the works, which had been sanctioned before April 1, 2020 and remain un-awarded till December 31, 2020, the same will be dropped from the list of sanctioned works of PMGSY and no funds shall be allowed for these works out of PMGSY funds.
“In such a situation, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have to fund these projects out of its own resources. The observations were also made regarding delay in release of the funds to the Nodal Agency of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir after release thereof by the Central Government and further commensurate State share in the projects”, Justice Bindal pointed out, adding “the request was to review all the pending projects”.
He further said: “It was after this communication that the officers got up from slumber. It may be for the reason that fresh funds were to flow, otherwise no one is taking care of the projects for which funds have already been released and those are hanging fire”.
“These facts establish that apparently there has to be some monitoring authority standing on the heads of all the departments with a stick to take even routine work from them”, he further said, adding “there can be some vested interest to keep silent and delay execution of projects”.
“One reason can be with delays arbitration clause is invoked and lot of money is siphoned off in the form of claims. The litigation there also is not contested properly, as many times the Government fails on account of delay only”, High Court said.
Stating that all the Government employees are trustees of the public money and time has come that people can ask them to be accountable for not using the same properly or wasting the same, Justice Bindal said, “the way of working and attitude of shirking responsibility will not change unless the people at the helm of affairs are held accountable for their actions and inactions”, adding “if the officers and staff are paid salaries from the amounts contributed by the public, why the public exchequer should suffer for their inefficiency and casualness”.
“Another angle which needs consideration of competent authority is the manner in which the estimated cost of project is evaluated”, Acting Chief Justice said, adding “in the case in hand e-NIT mentioned the estimated cost of the project as Rs 1,285.68 lakh but the petitioner claimed that his offer was for Rs 9,90,10,059. But the fact remains that the difference in cost estimated by the department as compared to the bids submitted by the bidders was about 15-20%. The lowest bidder had offered the rate, which was 19.10% less than the estimated cost”.
“Another strange fact is that any successful bidder is ready and willing to execute the project at the same rates even after five to 10 years after the same was allotted. Such instances have come before the court earlier also”, Acting Chief Justice said, adding “apparently, it can be for one reason that the rates at which the works are allotted are so high that any contractor is able to execute the same even after five to ten years of allotment even if the time provided for completion of the work may be 1-2 years”.
Stating that there is always increase in various cost including the labour cost during all this period besides this material cost also increases, High Court said, “may be it is more lucrative to work in Jammu & Kashmir as one of the company registered in Assam was also in litigation with the department here with reference to some contract. There can be issue of quality of construction also”.
Laying thrust on deep examination of these issues, the Acting Chief Justice directed the Chief Secretary of J&K Union Territory to refer some cases for test audit to the Central Road Research Institute for quality of the works being executed here.
“Estimated cost of project calculated by the department should also be gone into by the Institute. Besides this, any other related matter can also be referred by the Chief Secretary to the Institute as the idea is to bring transparency in the system and create better infrastructure”, Justice Bindal said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
