| Date: |
06-07-2015 |
| Subject: |
CVC probes babus over 47 missing SEZ files |
NEW DELHI: The Central Vigilance Commission has started an investigation against senior officials of the commerce ministry for 47 missing files of Special Economic Zones allocated to some of the country's top companies.
The SEZ files in question went missing from the ministry after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) began reviewing the concessional land allotment made to the companies in some of the country's favoured locations and big cities. The CAG audit, which pointed out missing files, was tabled in Parliament in December 2014.
The CVC is investigating if the commerce ministry has found "any specific official responsible for irregular allotment of land and whether any undue benefits have been granted to developers in violation of rules".
A source said while the CVC is looking at fixing responsibility on the bureaucrats for lapses, a parallel inquiry has been initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation against corporate beneficiaries who may have bypassed norms in SEZ allocations.
These key missing files include those relating to SEZ land allotted to DLF, Parsvanath, Moradabad SEZ and Handicraft, Infosys SEZs in Mysore, Bangalore and Mangalore and files of Wipro Ltd. No details of these SEZ units were available, including their application, documents submitted by these developers to fulfil their eligibility and papers substantiating approvals of the board of approval in the ministry.
When the audit team insisted on verifying details of these allotments and status of the projects, the ministry officials said the files were not traceable the source said. "We wrote letters demanding these files, but were told they are not available," said a senior audit official.
Besides writing to the ministry to provide details, the CVC has sought help of the auditor in identifying officials responsible for these missing files.
The list of 47 also includes Adani Port and SEZ, Essar Hazira, Moser Baer India in Greater Noida, Mahindra Worldcity, Chengalpattu, Suzlon SEZ, Bengal Shapoorji Infrastructure Development Pvt Ltd, Diamond and Gems Development Corporation (SURSEZ) and L&T Hi-tech City, among others. It is still not verifiable if all the corporates whose SEZ files have gone missing are involved in corrupt practices.
CAG in its audit had observed that these cases could not be audited for lack of cooperation from the commerce ministry. The ministry also did not provide the auditor with the current status of these projects, whether the developers had started the SEZ projects or land was diverted for commercial exploitation as had been revealed in several other cases during the audit.
Out of 45,635 hectares of land notified in the country for SEZ purposes, operations commenced in only 28,488 ha (approx 62%). In fact, the audit identified 5,402 ha of land in six states diverted for commercial purposes by developers against the SEZ norms.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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