Patna, March. 31 (PTI): The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has severely indicted the Bihar Government for purchasing a 'phased-out' model of aircraft at a cost of Rs 13.23 crores when the state was under President's Rule and Buta Singh was the Governor without inviting competitive bids.
The CAG in its report for the year ended March 31, 2006 revealed that the state government failed to realise the value for money as it purchased the phased-out aircraft without inviting competitive bids when a substantially upgraded model of the same company was available at a marginally higher cost.
The state government had in 1998 decided to purchase a new aircraft as against the existing King Air C-90B aircraft.
The Special Purchase Committee had in October, 2003 sought the details on 12 points, including the technical and financial evaluation of competing brands, prices at which the state government and government agencies had procured the aircraft and the winning curve of aircraft in global bids.
The report said the committee, however, had decided to purchase the existing model of King Air C-90B aircraft on the grounds of its landing ability and high cost of training of pilots and spares for another model of aircraft without going into the points raised earlier.
An examination of records showed that no tenders were called, though Rule 30 of the Bihar financial rules clearly stipulated that the state cabinet approval was required for waiver of tender procedure, which in this case was not obtained.
There was nothing on record to show that technical and financial evaluation of competing brands were carried out and the price at which other government agencies had procured the aircraft, the CAG in its report pointed out.
The CAG in its report for the year ended March 31, 2006 revealed that the state government failed to realise the value for money as it purchased the phased-out aircraft without inviting competitive bids when a substantially upgraded model of the same company was available at a marginally higher cost.
The state government had in 1998 decided to purchase a new aircraft as against the existing King Air C-90B aircraft.
The Special Purchase Committee had in October, 2003 sought the details on 12 points, including the technical and financial evaluation of competing brands, prices at which the state government and government agencies had procured the aircraft and the winning curve of aircraft in global bids.
The report said the committee, however, had decided to purchase the existing model of King Air C-90B aircraft on the grounds of its landing ability and high cost of training of pilots and spares for another model of aircraft without going into the points raised earlier.
An examination of records showed that no tenders were called, though Rule 30 of the Bihar financial rules clearly stipulated that the state cabinet approval was required for waiver of tender procedure, which in this case was not obtained.
There was nothing on record to show that technical and financial evaluation of competing brands were carried out and the price at which other government agencies had procured the aircraft, the CAG in its report pointed out.
No comments:
Post a Comment