Bathinda tech varsity clears Rs2.50-cr tender sans approval

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, August 31

A gross violation had been reported in the tendering process of general order supplies at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University (MRSPTU), Bathinda.

On June 6, 2019 the university had shortlisted two firms—Twenty First Century Techno Product Pvt Ltd and Bonton Technomake Pvt Ltd — which had submitted the tender offline and after the last date (August 14, 2018). Later, Twenty First Century Techno Product Pvt Ltd was allotted the tender.

An online tender firm—Wipro Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Chandigarh, —had offered to give 39 per cent discount, if the order would be above Rs 1 crore. However, Twenty First Century Techno Products Pvt Ltd was given orders worth Rs 2.50 crore. The orders were divided into five parts to project it as the biggest discount, said sources.

The Finance Department had allocated Rs 25 crore for the MRSPTU for 2019-20, but on April 11, 2019, the department had released a letter stating that expenditure allocated in the Capital Budget could only be done if the Finance Department gives its approval. Neither the Finance Department nor the Technical Education Department had given any approval to the university.

The MRSPTU gave first supply order worth Rs 53.91 lakh to Twenty First Century Techno Products Pvt on November 20, 2019 and the order was supplied within 30 days.

Later, Prof Mohan Paul Singh Issar, Vice-Chancellor, MRSPTU, had stated that payment of confirmed order had to be made from the university resources.

The Tribune is in possession of documents, which show that on July 24, Registrar Prof Buta Singh Sidhu had proposed to constitute a four- member committee to look into the irregularities, but this proposal was overruled by the VC.

Former Registrar, Jatinder Kaur, had pointed out on July 2 that “As per the journal voucher, quantities of items (to be paid for) have been shown according to supply order, but quantities received are less in number as per the inspection note. Clarify, if advance payment is being put up for further processing”.

The MRSPTU claimed that they had followed all the regulations in the tendering process. The university management claimed that they had set a condition that confirmation of supply order would be done after receiving funds. As funds were not received, the final nod was not given.

The VC said, “When the work has not been executed, how can there be any wrongdoing.”

With every passing year, strength of students has been declining at the MRSPTU. At present, 1,700 students are enrolled in the 2019-20 session.