300 engineers in the dock for no fault of theirs

They have been served notices over Rs. 37.77-cr loss to govt

For no fault of theirs, 300 engineers who had served in the Minor Irrigation (MI) department have been issued show cause notices in connection with the losses incurred by the department between 1999 and 2005.

The 300 engineers have been served notices by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the State Legislature and the MI department to explain the losses to the tune of Rs 37.77 crore the department had suffered for construction of minor irrigation tanks in four districts. The PAC has attributed the losses to “wrong” cost estimates made by engineers.

While Public Works Department Code, Section 1.2.4, states that chief engineers and superintendenting engineers are responsible for the preparation of estimates for any project under the MI department, the 300 engineers of lower ranks have been served notices. None of these engineers had ever held the post of chief engineer. Most of them are serving as assistant executive engineer (AEE) and executive engineer (EE) 2006 onwards.

Surprisingly, the notices were served almost five years after the PAC report was tabled in the Assembly. Subsequent to the serving of the notices in December 2011 and January 2012, the State government has withheld the promotions, increments, allowances, pensions and the provident fund accrued by these engineers during their service period.

The PAC report of 2007 on the MI department suggested that there was a loss of around Rs 38 crore to the State exchequer due to cost escalation in the construction of MI tanks in Gulbarga, Bidar, Dakshina Kannada and Belgaum districts.

According to the report, of the 77 MI tank projects, whose estimated cost should have been Rs 54.42 crore, was ‘wrongfully’ estimated at Rs  92.26 crore. The report stated that about Rs 27.77 crore was also released over and above the actual cost to contractors in 27 of these projects. Subsequently, the PAC ordered an inquiry by retired Sessions Court judges.

Of the 300 engineers who were issued the show cause notice, a few of them were not even serving in the posts of AEE or EE in-charge of constructing these MI tanks. In four cases of Bidar district, an AEE who was posted to the MI department in 2006 was held accountable for the wrong estimations made during 1999 and 2005.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the engineer, now deputed to another department of the State government, said that most of those engineers summoned in these cases will never be charged with any case as they had they never served in the said posts during the period of the alleged scam.