Fresh corruption case against AAP leaders Manish Sisodia, Satyendar Jain over scam of ₹2,000 crore

The Anti-Corruption Bureau has registered a fresh case against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in connection with corruption in the construction of classrooms at highly exorbitant costs.

The scam is pegged at around ₹2,000 crore and involved awarding contracts at highly inflated rates with classrooms reportedly built at ₹24.86 lakh each — nearly five times the usual cost, news agency PTI reported while citing the ACB's statement.

The project was allegedly awarded to contractors linked with AAP.

“A massive scam to the tune of Rs. 2,000 crores was unearthed in the construction of 12,748 classrooms/buildings during the regime of AAP in Delhi,” the Anti-Corruption Bureau was quoted as saying by news agency ANI on Wednesday.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau alleged that significant deviations and cost escalations were observed, “and not a single work was completed within the prescribed period.”

It added, “Consultant and Architect appointed without following due procedure, and cost escalations were carried out through him. Case registered after receiving permission u/s 17-A POC Act from the competent authority.”

What are the allegations against Sisodia and Jain? In Detail

The complaints from Harish Khurana, spokesperson, BJP Delhi Pradesh, Kapil Mishra, MLA, and Neelkanth Bakshi, Media Relations Department, BJP, were received regarding corruption in the construction of approximately 12,748 school classrooms at an expenditure of Rs. 2,892 crore.

Cost for constructing school rooms: The lump sum cost for constructing one school room, as per the awarded tenders, is approximately ₹24.86 lakh per room, whereas such rooms could ordinarily be built in Delhi for around ₹5 lakh per room.

Contractors: It was also alleged that the project was awarded to 34 contractors, the majority of whom are allegedly associated with the Aam Aadmi Party.

Not a single work was completed: Head of Anti-Corruption Bureau Madhur Verma told ANI that during verification, it was revealed that in the meetings of the Expenditure Finance Committee for the financial year 2015-16, it was decided that the project would be completed by June 2016 at the sanctioned cost, without any scope for future cost escalations.

However, despite these directions, not a single work was completed within the prescribed period, and significant deviations and cost escalations were observed.

Report was suppressed: During the enquiry, it was revealed that the examination report of the Chief Technical Examiner, Central Vigilance Commission, in the instant matter was issued on February 17, 2020, with the approval of the competent authority. However, the report was suppressed for about 3 years, ANI reported.

Violations of various clauses: The report of CTE/CVC raised serious violations of various clauses of the CPWD Works Manual 2014, GFR 2017, CVC guidelines, and other irregularities.

They also alleged that various decisions taken after the award of tenders were not in accordance with the guidelines of CVC and other manuals, which led to a huge escalation of costs and financial loss.

The CVC report also observed that ultimately, the actual cost of the constructed SPS was more or less equal to the cost of permanent structures.

The actual cost per sq. ft. of Priority-I, as worked out in the CVC report, is Rs. 2292 per sq. ft. against the cost of pucca structure model schools @2044 - 2416 per sq. ft.

Due to the adoption of richer specifications, the construction cost of SPS classrooms almost matched the cost of pucca classrooms and apparently no financial benefit of adoption of SPS construction was achieved.

Contract values escalated: During the enquiry, it was observed that the tenders were floated and contracts were awarded for ₹860.63 crore. Subsequently, contract values escalated by 17% to 90% due to richer specifications.

The escalation amounted to Rs. 326.25 crore, of which Rs. 205.45 crore was attributable to richer specifications, comprising 23.87% of the award value.

No fresh tenders were invited to reflect these changes, contrary to CVC guidelines. In five schools, work worth Rs. 42.5 crore was executed without proper tenders, using existing contracts.

Based on the aforementioned findings in the instant matter, a proposal to seek previous approval u/s 17-A of the POC Act was initiated against the former PWD and Education Ministers of the erstwhile Delhi Government. The competent authority has given its approval to ACB's proposal.

Accordingly, an FIR has been registered at the Anti-Corruption Branch and a comprehensive investigation has been launched to unearth the whole conspiracy and fix the role and culpability of the alleged Ministers, known/unknown government officials/contractors.

(With inputs from ANI)