Chennai, August 23: The CBI registered a case against a senior official and others of southern railway on charges of misusing official position, cheating and criminal conspiracy yesteday. According to sources, a special team of the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Branch raided Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore and other suburban stations early on Saturday based on an information that private contractors were being allowed to run stalls ”illegally,” causing a huge loss to the Railways.
It came to light that at least 50 stalls were operating without licence or any other valid document authorising their business.
Though their contract period expired on June 30 this year, they continued to operate. ”Those awarded fresh contracts by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation(IRCTC) to run the stalls from July could not enter the premises as the previous contractors did not vacate. The new contractors even lodged their protest by writing to the authorities concerned. But no tangible action was taken,” a CBI official said.
As per the Catering Policy of the Indian Railways introduced in December 2005, all stalls should be handed over to the IRCTC for operation. In Chennai Division, the transfer could not take place owing to various problems. ”Instructions were finally given that contractors operating the stalls shall vacate by June 30. Tenders were called for by the IRCTC and fresh contracts worth Rs 3.85 crore were awarded to others.
However, they(the new contractors) could not take over,” the official said.
Investigations revealed that Senior Divisional Commercial Manager K Yesuratnam of Chennai division had permitted the stall operators to continue. They were initially given a months extension. ”They continued even after that…the month-long extension itself is unauthorised. This has resulted in a wrongful loss to the Railways. We have registered a case against Yesuratnam and others under Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Section 420(cheating),120(b)(criminal conspiracy)of IPC,” he added. Investigators searched the residence of the official. Raids continued in stalls across the division till late on Saturday.
Similar checks would be conducted at all major stations in the zone, including Madurai, Coimbatore and Tiruchi, CBI sources added.
—–Agencies