SC criticises Kerala Governor for not reviewing former judge’s report on VC appointments
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday criticised Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar for failing to examine a report prepared by former Supreme Court judge Sudhanshu Dhulia on the pending appointment of regular vice chancellors to two state universities.
A bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan said the document, sent by the Chief Minister to the Governor in his capacity as Chancellor of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University and the University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology, was “not just an ordinary piece of paper” and should have been reviewed promptly.
The court questioned why the report had not even been looked at, despite the Chancellor having received the committee’s findings. Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, appearing for the state, informed that no action had been taken so far.
The dispute has been ongoing between the state government and the Governor over filling key academic posts. In August, the Supreme Court had appointed Justice Dhulia to head a search-cum-selection committee after finding the regular appointment process had broken down. As directed, shortlisted candidates were to be forwarded to the Chief Minister, who would then send the preference list to the Chancellor.
The conflict escalated in September when the Governor sought a modification of the Supreme Court’s directions, arguing that university laws and UGC rules did not provide any role for the Chief Minister in selecting vice chancellors.
The bench noted that the process had been carried out with consent from all sides and criticised the explanation that certain related documents had not reached the Raj Bhavan. The judges insisted that the Chancellor must act on the recommendations without delay.
When the Governor’s counsel attempted to present further arguments, the bench emphasised the importance of the report. “A former judge of the Supreme Court has looked into it. So you are to look into the report and take an appropriate call,” Justice Pardiwala said.
The Supreme Court will review the Chancellor’s action on the matter on December 5.
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CBI books ex-AAI chairman for corruption in contract for food and beverage operator at airports
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has registered a corruption case against former Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman V P Agarwal for allegedly favouring a consortium of airport-lounge operators and a company that runs popular fast-food chains across the country in the contract for operating food and beverage services at the Chennai and Kolkata airports in 2012-13.
After three years of a preliminary enquiry into allegations of "cheating and gross misconduct", the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also booked then Member (Finance) S Suresh, then Executive Director R Bhandari, lounge operators Travel Food Services Chennai Private Limited and Travel Food Services Kolkata Private Limited, and Devyani International Limited, which runs several fast-food chains in India.
The questions sent to the companies remained unanswered.
The case concerns tenders for the master concessionaire contract for food and beverage services at the Chennai and Kolkata airports in 2012-13, officials said on Friday.
It is alleged that senior AAI officials engaged in gross misconduct, manipulated the tender process and made unauthorised changes to the terms and conditions of the master concessionaire contract in 2012-13 to favour the private parties.
The AAI had appointed IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (IIDC) as its consultant in August 2011 to help enhance non-aeronautical revenue, including earnings from food and beverage outlets, retail shops, advertising and car parking, at the Chennai and Kolkata airports.
Under the proposed master concessionaire model, a single agency would be awarded the contract to develop, operate and maintain all food and beverage outlets at each airport for 10 years to boost non-aeronautical revenue.
The CBI launched the enquiry in 2022 and submitted an extensive report material, suggesting cheating and a criminal conspiracy by public servants to extend undue benefits to private entities, prompting the agency to convert the enquiry into a formal case by filing an FIR.
The tender was a two-stage process. The first one was the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage, with the shortlisted bidders moving to the finance stage in Request for Proposal (RFP).
According to the CBI, key terms in the RFQ were altered and conditions tweaked to favour certain companies at the RFP stage, and the minimum annual guarantee (MAG) was lowered and collusive bidding done by the two shortlisted bidders, who allegedly had conflicting interests.
The then Executive Director of the AAI, A K Mishra, had raised concerns about the collusive bidding and recommended recalling the tender with revised eligibility norms.
"However, the said apprehension was ignored deliberately by the accused public servants," the FIR says.
The FIR mentions the role of Amit Arora, who is under investigation in the Delhi excise policy case. However, he has not been named as an accused in this case.
"Amit Arora was also one of the prospective bidders at RFQ stage. On May 29, 2013, Amit Arora joined as Director of Devyani Airport Services (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of Devyani International Ltd.
"The entity, Devyani Airport Services (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd, was incorporated on April 18, 2013. Amit Arora got associated with one of the bidders, Devyani International Ltd, after RFQ stage but prior to RFP stage," the FIR has alleged.
The second shortlisted bidder was a consortium of Travel Food Services Private Limited and its subsidiary, Authentic Restaurants Private Limited.
"Amit Arora acquired 99.99 per cent shares of Authentic Restaurants Pvt. Ltd and had also joined it as Additional Director," the FIR has alleged.
The CBI said the bids of the two shortlisted contenders were "nearly same and just higher than the mandatory minimum annual guarantee", with the consortium emerging as the H-1 bidder.
The enquiry found that Arora had direct and indirect interests in both bidders, which should have led to their disqualification.
"But, the Master Concessionaire Contracts were awarded to newly formed companies ... and the shareholders in both the companies who participated in the bidding process were same," the agency said.
According to the FIR, the bidders failed to inform the AAI about the changes in the ownership and shareholding, violating the undertakings submitted at the RFQ stage and creating a conflict of interest.
The enquiry showed that the Commercial Advisory Board (CAB) of the AAI was given three separate options for fixing the MAG for the Kolkata and Chennai airports, but it chose the lowest of the three options for both airports.
"Enquiry revealed that MAG was to be decided in a rational manner to achieve
optimum revenue for AAI. However, the accused public servant, in criminal conspiracy with private persons, deliberately and in order to facilitate undue benefits, ignored the opinion of consultant and opted for much lower amount," the CBI has said.
All these changes helped the consortium of Travel Food Services Private Limited and Authentic Restaurants Private Limited, and Devyani International Limited to emerge as shortlisted and the only bidders at the RFQ stage for both airports.
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