Delhi LG grants nod to anti-corruption body to register case against PWD official

In the same matter, ACB had registered a complaint against two assistant engineers and two junior engineers of PWD

Lieutenant governor VK Saxena on Friday accorded permission to the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Delhi government, for registration of case against an executive engineer of public works department (PWD), for allegedly misusing the official position in hatching criminal conspiracy with other officers of the department, a contractor his firm for pecuniary gains in a road construction project, officials aware of the matter said.

Lieutenant governor VK Saxena (PTI)

According to the LG secretariat officials, the LG has granted approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) for registration of case against the executive engineer, for allegedly causing undue loss to the government exchequer in the work of strengthening the road at Guru Harkishan Marg from Britannia Chowk on Outer Ring Road at West Enclave.

“Earlier, Saxena had granted permission to register a case against four other PWD officials in the same matter. A complaint was filed on May 19, 2017 alleging that the payments were made to a contractor, without proper verification of work at the site. Later, it was found that no work was undertaken there. It was also alleged in the complaint that the work of strengthening of Road No 43 Guru Har Kishan Marg was awarded for ₹11.59 crore, which was 24.31% below the estimated cost of ₹15.32 crore to the contractor. However, the work was never carried out and was fraudulently shown to be completed on April 10, 2015,” said an officer, asking not to be named.

In the same matter, the ACB, after conducting the preliminary enquiry, had registered a complaint against two assistant engineers and two junior engineers of PWD. While the sanction to proceed against the four officials was cleared by the LG earlier, the matter pertaining to executive engineer, which falls under Group-A category of government servants, was sent to the LG for approval through the National Capital Civil Services Authority (NCCSA), which is the competent authority in case of such officers.