IPS officers ’bent rules’ to clear Rs 50-cr housing project

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, July 15, 2015: Senior IPS officer and Chairman of Karnataka State Police Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (KSPHIDC), Sushant Mahapatra, has made a complaint to Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi about corruption and irregularities in the tender process at the corporation since 2012.

Mahapatra said that two senior IPS officers — M N Reddi and Praveen Sood — were at the helm of the KSPHIDC as managing director during the said period. Reddi is now commissioner of Bengaluru police while Sood is ADGP of Karnataka State Reserve Police.

In the complaint, Mahapatra stated that after the retirement of IPS officer Shankar Bidari, a board meeting chaired by Reddi passed a resolution (number 21/2012) for a project of Rs 50 crore. Though any project above Rs five crore had to meet legal requirements, this was never done.

“All my queries with other directors have yielded no result and queries to the in-charge MD, Seemant Kumar Singh, also yielded no response. It is quite evident that the housing corporation has been converted into a big house of corruption where only a few select contractors are being favoured illegally and small contractors have been marginalised,” Mahapatra stated.

According to Mahapatra, all these tenders for illegal packages were advertised long ago and they have been coming to the corporation now only for ratification. “Illegal acts have already taken place and hence there is an urgent need to take action against the offenders,” he stated in the complaint.

Justice Adi said that Mahapatra had sought time to file complete documents. “The complaint has been filed but the officer sought time to submit complete documents. Hence, an official complaint has not been registered yet,” he added.  Reacting to the allegations, Reddi insisted that he had not violated any rules during his tenure at the corporation.

“The tenders were cleared with consensus and no individual decision was taken. There was no misuse of funds,” he stressed.