Mayawati's number plate scam revealed

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As Uttar Pradesh was gearing up for Assembly elections, the Mayawati government was busy finalising a huge financial scam worth crores of rupees, which has now been struck down by the Allahabad high court.

The high court’s Lucknow bench, in an order April 3, scrapped a contract awarded by the Mayawati government to Shimnit Utsch India Pvt. Ltd. to supply high-security registration plates at a huge rate in Uttar Pradesh.

Such was the quantum of the scam that state vehicle owners would have ended up paying a whopping Rs. 800 crores extra over 15 years for procuring these special numberplates.

While cancelling the order, the high court also ordered a CBI investigation into the scam - the probe must be completed within six months.

The CBI was also ordered to submit a status report to the high court every two months.

A division bench comprising of Justices Devi Prasad Singh and S.C. Chaurasia additionally imposed a cost of Rs. 25 lakhs on the firm and another Rs 25 lakhs on the state government.

The award of this contract was decided by the Mayawati government on December 22, 2011, just months before the Assembly polls.

The high court also directed the state government to forfeit the security deposit of Rs 8.51crore submitted by the company, Shimnit Utsch India Pvt Ltd. The UP government has been asked to re-advertise and float fresh tenders within a week after making changes in the tender documents which should be strictly in accordance with rules and laws and complete the entire process by April 30.

The Court while passing the order on a petition filed by Celex Technologies Pvt. Ltd and others also observed that, 'there appears to be an institutional breakdown of the bureaucracy in the State because of political alignation of a section of its members'.

"Immediate attention is required not only to uplift the morale of the bureaucracy but also to make it an integral and an independent part of the government for socio-economic development of the country in its national interest."

The petitioners had alleged that the entire tender process, beginning from inviting the tender bids to submission of the tender documents, was in gross violation of the statutory provisions.