Delhi LG accords permission to register corruption case against PWD's executive engineer

New Delhi [India], February 2 (ANI): Delhi LG, VK Saxena, has accorded permission to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) to register a case against an Executive Engineer of PWD, Delhi government, for misusing the official position and power in a criminal conspiracy with other officers of the department, the contractor, and his firm for pecuniary gains in road construction work, said an official statement on Friday.
The LG has accorded approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) for registration of case against Executive Engineer, Mool Chand, for causing undue loss to the government exchequer in the work of strengthening the road at Guru Harkishan Marg from Britannia Chowk of Outer Ring Road at West Enclave.
The LG had earlier granted permission to register a case against four other officers of the PWD in the same matter.
A complaint filed on May 19, 2017, alleged that the payments were made to the contractor Mohd Iqbal, owner of M/s MHA Construction Pvt Ltd without proper verification of work at the site, as no work was undertaken; rather, it was just a paper exercise.
It was also alleged that the work of strengthening Road No. 43 Guru Har Kishan Marg was awarded for Rs 11,59,66,020, which was 24.31 per cent below the estimated cost of Rs 15,32,11,811/- to the contractor and was to be executed between December 20, 2013 and July 9, 2014. However, the work was never carried out and was fraudulently shown to be completed on April 10, 2015.
In the same matter, the ACB, after conducting the preliminary inquiry, registered a complaint against other PWD officers, Ajay Kumar, Amar Singh (both assistant engineers), Sunit Singh, and Narender Kumar (both junior engineers), against whom the LG had earlier accorded permission for registration of case u/s 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
While the sanction to proceed against the aforementioned 4 AEs and JEs was cleared by LG earlier, the matter pertaining to Mool Chand, who is an executive engineer belonging to Group A category of Government servants, was sent to the LG for approval through the NCCSA, which is the competent authority in case of such officers. (ANI)