Ahmedabad
Mirror: Ahmedabad: Thursday, 06 November 2014.
Alawyer from
Rajkot has alleged irregularity in hiring an Ahmedabad agency to supply
manpower to small skills development centres run by labour and employment
department. The advocate has accused a minister of violating rules and showing
favouritism towards Disha Enterprise vying for the project that entails cost of
Rs 60 crore. In a press conference held at Hotel Harmony near Shastrinagar in
Rajkot on Wednesday, the lawyer claimed that the firm neither has proper
documents nor does it fulfil tender criteria. "Yet, the department has
begun the process to award the tender to Disha in violation of all rules,"
he alleged.
However,
Labour Minister Saurabh Patel has denied any wrongdoing in awarding the tender.
"One of the competitors is being a sore loser," he said. In January
2014, the department issued an online tender to fill 4,500 vacancies for posts
of faculty members, multi-skill assistants, security personnel and housekeeping
staff for its small skill development centres. Eight agencies forwarded their
applications. Lawyer Ashoksinh Vaghela claims, "Four firms were
shortlisted. Disha also figured on the list even though it did not meet the
tender criteria. I shot off letters to the chief minister's office, vigilance
department and labour department, drawing attention to this irregularity.
The CMO
directed the principal secretary (labour) to look into the matter. Director
(labour) Sandhya Bhullar looked into all tender applications and submitted a
comparative report to the principal secretary on August 19. The report stated
that rules were violated in choosing agencies." Vaghela submitted an RTI
for the report. "The report states that Disha did not have police licence
registration. The firm had submitted a receipt stating it had applied for
licence. This cannot be considered a proper document," he alleged.
"The firm has to submit an affidavit that it has never been blacklisted
nor named in a police case. The document they submitted does not mention the
word blacklist at all," claimed the advocate.
He added,
"Only firms with manpower supply turnover of Rs 10 crore for three
consecutive years can qualify for the tender. The chartered accountant
certificate submitted by the firm does not specify their turnover is only
through manpower supply." He said, "The minimum wage of housekeeping
staff is Rs 7,000 per person, but the firm sought only Rs 5,215 per person in
the tender. Did the owner plan to compensate for the rest from his
pocket?" The petition alleges that despite the report, a minister asked
officials to award the tender to the firm.
When
contacted, Deputy Secretary (Labour) S K Bamania said, "I cannot say
anything. Talk to R H Vasava." Deputy Secretary (Labour) Vasava said,
"This is a sensitive issue. Talk to the minister of state or the cabinet
minister." Asked about the irregularities, MoS (Labour) Dilip Thakor said,
"I have noted my opinion on the report and also sent it to the cabinet
minister." Minister Saurabh Patel said, "There was a big difference
in the rates quoted by the lowest and second lowest bidder. The complaint has
been made so that the lowest bidder is not awarded the tender. However, the
government has chosen the party that offers an economical rate. We also plan to
divide the hiring project into four parts so that one firm does not have
monopoly over manpower supply."
.JPG)
.JPG)
