LUCKNOW: UP State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) made an inadmissible and excess payment of Rs 69.8 crore to a private firm in violation of the conditions of the agreement in implementation of Intelligent Transport Management System (ITMS) project, said the CAG report 2020. It also suffered a consequential loss of interest of Rs 15.6 crore on excess payments.
The Corporation had executed an agreement with the M/s Trimax IT Infrastructure & Services Limited, Mumbai on February 2, 2013 for supply, installation and operation of ITMS for a period of five years. ITMS aimed to provide an integrated ticketing system, vehicle tracking system and passengers' information system.
The operation period of five years of ITMS was to commence after complete 'Go-live' in all 20 regions of the Corporation on Build-Own-Operate and Transfer (BOOT) model. The ITMS went live in various regions during April 2014 to November 2015 but not in all of them.
An amount of Rs 19.1 crore was payable to the firm by UPSRTC as a compensation for its upfront investment after completion of the project. UPSRTC, however, paid an amount of Rs 17.3 crore to Trimax towards upfront investment during June 2013 to November 2015, said the report.
"The audit done in March 2021 noticed various infirmities pointing to the terms and conditions of the agreement not being followed", said the report, adding that in many cases, UPSRTC headquarter had pointed out that bills submitted by the regional managers were without invoices and 'go-live' certificates. "Despite this, payments were proposed and made."
Trimax submitted claims of Rs 26.6 core (in addition to the upfront amount of Rs 17.3 crore received by it) to UPSRTC in the regions where the ITMS had not gone live during February 2013 to November 2015, said the report.
Further, Trimax was to provide free of cost Vehicle Tracking System (VTS) devices and Electronic Ticketing Machines (ETMs) for new buses that were added to the fleet of the Corporation during the duration of the project. But the Corporation paid Rs 10.9 crore to Trimax for supply of 3,921 VTS devices and 8,478 ETMs for new buses during February 2016 to May 2017 which was in contravention to the provisions of the agreement.
The audit also found that Service Level Agreement (SLA) penalties were not deducted and payments were made for repair and maintenance of VTS and ETMs which was to be done free of cost by the firm during the project duration of five years.
The National Company Law Tribunal commenced the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against Trimax in February 2019.
After which UPSRTC stopped making payments to Trimax in March 2019 though it continued the work till November 2020. The unpaid bills for the period between March 2019 and November 2020 were worth Rs 43.8 crore.
Total amount recoverable from Trimax upto November 2020 was Rs 69.8 crore. After the matter was pointed out by the Audit on February 9, 2021, UPSRTC encashed a bank guarantee of Rs 10 crore. After deducting unpaid bills, balance amount of Rs 15.9 crore remains recoverable from Trimax.
UPSRTC management said that a three members committee formed in the case found outstanding liabilities against the firm amounting to Rs 70.1 crore in violation of the terms and conditions of the agreement. Out of this, Rs 55.7 crore has been recovered. Action against the officials of UPSRTC has been initiated. Ownership of firm Trimax has been transferred to M/s EBIX Cash Pvt. Ltd. against which UPSRTC has raised the remaining amount of Rs 14.4 crore.
