Government disbands special investigation team on BBMP works
Bengaluru: In a sudden development, the government has disbanded the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which was formed last August to unearth evidence of corruption during the BJP tenure by probing the work done by the BBMP .
The move comes just two weeks after one of the four teams submitted its interim report that had found “prosecutionable” evidence against top BBMP officials. The remaining three teams had not started the investigation.
The order issued by the Urban Development Department on December 15 officially withdrew all powers assigned to the four teams headed by IAS officers and assisted by a series of retired engineers.
one person commission
However, the order said a one-member inquiry commission comprising retired high court judge Justice H N Nagmohan Das will continue the investigation.
While the committee led by IAS officers was entrusted with the responsibility of examining the BBMP works of the last four years, a one-member commission has been empowered to investigate specific complaints related to 40% commission in public works across all departments.
The government has directed the now-disbanded SIT to hand over all files, records and information collected as part of the investigation to a one-man commission.
court order
The Congress government, on its part, has cited the High Court’s order of December 7 to dissolve the SIT.
The court – after taking note of multiple committees formed to investigate the same act – had ordered a stay of all proceedings related to the investigation, but provided the government an opportunity to justify the formation of the committees in the next hearing.
Looking at the UDD order, it appears that the government has decided to completely hand over the investigation to a one-man commission, rather than opposing the stay order issued by the court.
some progress
Of the four teams investigating the BBMP works, only one team – led by Amlan Aditya Biswas – had made much progress in investigating the road works. Three other teams – examining solid waste management (Ujwal Ghosh), storm water drainage (PC Jaffer) and ward work (R Vishal) – did not begin work citing various reasons including lack of manpower.
The team headed by Biswas, a 1997 batch IAS officer, had highlighted serious lapses in the road works in its interim report submitted to the government on December 5.
Biswas earlier told DH that after evaluating the tender process and conducting a site inspection, the report found prosecutable evidence.
It is learned that the report led to a tussle between the IAS officers in-charge of BBMP and one of the SIT chiefs.
Much before the court’s stay, there was pressure on the government to disband the committee as some IAS officers found that the SIT’s interim report was more focused on the role of select officers rather than unearthing irregularities.
