The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) was rocked by a scam which came to light after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked a cheating case against serving and retired employees for alleged irregularities in placing orders for printing course material, and defrauding the institution of over ₹ 1.5 crore.
The accused include now retired associate professor G Rajnikath, retired editor K. Papamma, and Accounts Officer G. V. Sridhar Goud, who has since been placed under suspension. Two others identified as Aluri Siva Ramakrishna Prasad, director of Balaji Scan Pvt Limited, and V Sudhakar Reddy, proprietor of Vaishanavi Laser Graphics, have also been booked. The accused staff of NIRDPR placed orders to these two companies, which allegedly violated General Financial Rules, which the institute adhered to.
The NIRDPR, in collaboration with International Labour Organisation, was designing course material for nationwide orientation programme on Barefoot Technicians.
According to the CBI, the accused staff allegedly sought separate quotations from these companies, despite rate contracts being in force. While the prescribed rates for four pages multi-coloured booklet and binding were fixed at ₹ 2,800 and ₹ 7 respectively, the quotations obtained were for ₹3,800 and ₹ 35. Payments amounting to ₹ 51.09 lakh were made to Balaji Scan Pvt Ltd. From 2016 to 2019, the material was reprinted four times through both companies and ₹ 4.74 crore were paid.
The CBI stated that preleminary investigation showed that an excess payments of ₹ 1.26 crore was made to Balaji Scans Pvt limited, and ₹ 30.20 lakh to Vaishanavi Laser Graphics in several instances in 2015 and 2016. Further, the accused staff allegedly did not call for tenders, did no stock accounting, and no certification of quantity. They allegedly placed work orders verbally. When NIRDPR raised internal queries, the accused allegedly made false justifications, and tried to cover their tracks.
The CBI booked a case under sections 120 – B read with section 420, 409 of the Indian Penal Code. Relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act too were invoked.
