Cartel was able to deceive entire civic body

Surat: Once the civic authorities realized that some ineligible parties have been awarded contract of solid waste collection in the city, a three-member committee was formed to give its opinion whether the faulty contract could be repaired or not. The committee comprising Bharat Dalal, city engineer, CY Bhatt, deputy municipal commissioner, and Kamesh Nayak, had only one agenda: Whether under section 19 of Indian Contract Act, a contract that had been awarded but is defective, can be repaired or not? The committee after holding consultation with techno-legal expert Kirti Dave opined that the contract can be repaired, cancelled and even regularized. Consequently, a proposal was moved in the standing committee for approval to rectify the anomalies in the contract. The administrative irregularities were corrected and officials responsible for them suspended. Another proposal was immediately prepared and put before the standing committee rectifying all the errors made in the first proposal, which led to some disqualified contractors getting work and qualified contractors given less allocation. Uday Naik, executive engineer, solid waste department, was suspended along with junior engineer Siraz Dastor with immediate effect. The two are now facing a departmental inquiry.
These developments led to cancellation of contract for 86 tractors of three agencies. Khodiyar Enterprises’ allotment of only 23 tractors was considered valid and the rest cancelled. In the new proposal, contract of 28 tractors of Dr Baba Saheb Amedkar VYSM Sahakari Mandli was cancelled together with that of nine tractors given to Laxmi Patel’s agency. Darbar Waste Corporation that had qualified for two zones, but not given contract was considered qualified and given work.
The civic body transferred 46 officials of the solid waste department and instituted department inquiry against two officers after the scam surfaced.