CHANDIGARH: The Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal project, Punjab’s hotbed of corruption, is in the throes of yet another scam. Official documents reveal that by means of a fraudulent arbitration award given by an officer just a day before his retirement, a tidy sum of R.s 87.84 lakh was siphoned off to a Patiala construction firm.
The final payment was made on the basis of a rather self-contradictory order issued by the Immigration and Power Department of the Punjab Government, The order seeks an explanation as to why no. appeal was filed in court against this a arbitration award and how such, a large sum was approved, It also contains a threat of action against the defaulters. However, a line appears abruptly, saying: “The payment of the Contractor is approved.”
Armend with this approval, senior officials of the SYL project moved at lightning speed to get the payment disbursed. The procedure that usually takes four or five months to complete was gone through in four-to-five days. A lower marked “most urgent” was delivered to the sub-divisional officer (SDO), at Sarala, on a Sunday. It ordered him i make the payment to the company by Monday morning. By noon the same day, the matter had to be reported to the Chief Engineer in Chandigarh. The SDO, however, stood his ground and insisted that the governments order was not a clear Case of approval.
Consequently, no payment could be made till the points raised in the Order were first settled.
This infuriated his bosses and several harsh letters followed from Executive Engineer Mohinder Singh, containing threats to ruin his career, Finally, the SDO was bullied into submission and the payment was made to M/s Commercial Industrial Corporation, Patiala in October last year.
Despite the invalid nature of the claims, the SYL officials did not contest the award in High Court.
The vigilance department report, Submitted in early February, has recommended legal action in the cause. It now remains to be seen whether the government will act in the matter at all. Meanwhile, Chief Engineer K.S. Sidhu, who headed the SYL project during the period when this transaction took “place, is due to retire at the end of this month.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 29, 1994
