NEW DELHI: In what could turn out to be a major embarrassment for the Delhi Government, the Central Vigilance Commission has been asked to hold a "detailed probe'' into the multi-crore optical smart card scam for registration of new and old vehicles in the State Transport Department.

Opposition

The Government has been resisting such a probe for quite some time despite repeated allegations of wrongdoing by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

Highly placed sources informed that for a long time there had been reports about how the Government and some officials had "gone out of their way'' to oblige a private company in the award of the tender for issuing of smart cards for registration of vehicles.

It was also pointed out that in the case of Delhi not only the charges for registration of vehicles under the new regime were extremely high but a clause was later included in the amended rules allowing the company to register lakhs of old vehicles also under the smart card rule.

This, it was alleged, was done to accrue monetary benefit for the private company and a time frame of two years was fixed for all old vehicles to get registered with the Transport Department from the date of notification.

Sources said the Government was resisting any probe into the matter for almost one year when the scam was unearthed.

However, after the matter reached Delhi Lieutenant-Governor B.L. Joshi he sought more information on the award of contract and the tendering process.

During the internal assessment of the matter, it was revealed that certain decisions had been taken by "a group of senior officials'' with the ulterior motive of benefiting the private company currently engaged in the business of issuing smart cards for registration of vehicles.

"It was during this process that a lot of wrongdoing was detected and it was felt that the matter should be ``referred'' to the Central Vigilance Commission for a detailed investigation in view of the sensitive matter and the gravity of the allegations. The probe is not only going to be embarrassing for the Delhi Government but also point an accusing finger at some officials and higher ups in the Government when the final conclusion is arrived at,'' a senior official remarked.

Private company

The matter was first raked up by Leader of the Opposition Jagdish Mukhi who alleged a Rs. 150-crore scam.

While the other States having charging between Rs. 50 to Rs. 125 for issuing smart cards, the Delhi Government had agreed to a ``extremely high'' amount of Rs. 375 per smart card. With nearly 40 lakh vehicles in Delhi, an average of Rs. 245 extra would impose a burden of Rs. 150 crores on Delhiites.

It was also pointed out that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was issuing smart cards for Rs. 150 each while the Transport Department had agreed to Rs. 375 per smart card.

The private company was awarded the contract on a single tender basis in violation of all norms.

"After the privatisation of power controversy, this is the second scam that is likely to hit the Delhi Government badly,'' another official stated.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail