Controversy rules contracts for parking lot

Controversy rules contracts for airport parking lotPublished Date: 10/7/2005 - (NIE)V AyyappanChennai, October 5: The parking lot at Chennai Airport is in the eye of a storm, with allegations of irregularities cropping up from different quarters, on the way contracts are allotted to outside agencies to handle this facility. The issue has also come under the scrutiny of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).The Airport Authority of India (AAI) had allegedly incurred a loss of crores of rupees because of non-compliance with norms, favouring a particular agency in the process, without floating tenders.According to sources, ‘‘the contract was being handled on an ad hoc basis by the same agency – Nav Bharat Entreprises – for the last three years, without calling for any quotation or tender. They are reaping benefits by paying only a nominal licence fee, which is not justified for an airport like Chennai’s, where parking charges for cars are Rs 50 or more.’’The agency is running the car park for a licence fee of Rs 31 lakh per month, while the collection was more than Rs 2.5 lakh a day, sources said.Besides, the agency does not meet any of the criteria relating to experience and turnover, and hence is not eligible for running a contract in a national and international airport. The contract requires a turnover of Rs 2.5 crore per annum according to the commercial manual.Following a complaint by Yash Marketing and Trading Company, whose offer of Rs 40 lakh licence fee had received no response from AAI, the Central Vigilance Commission registered the case and forwarded the omplaint to Airports Authority of India. A status check with the CVC website showed that the Chief Vigilance Officer’s report was recorded on September 13 and the first stage advice was sent on September 29.However, following CVC action, AAI hastily called for temporary tenders and a company had quoted Rs 70 lakh a month, according to reliable sources.The story of irregularities dates back to 2000, when the parking contract was awarded to Ravinder Joshi Medical Foundation, operated by Ranjit Madhavan and Muttu, for Rs 20 lakh per month. But two years later, the contact was terminated on flimsy grounds of non-payments, and a fresh contract was given to Nav Bharat Enterprises.Surprisingly, the new contract was awarded on an ad hoc basis without calling for any tenders, and that too, for only Rs 15 lakh a month. What is more curious, is that the new contractor-company is run by the same Ranjit Madhavan.According to sources, a senior office-bearer of the Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is associated with the company.Yash Marketing had written a series of letters to AAI, addressing Commercial Officers and Vigilance Officers, starting from February 2005. But, in response to a letter dated July 5, the then Vigilance GM of AAI informed Yash Marketing ‘‘to refrain from correspondence with Vigilance in this regard’’ and said ‘‘Vigilance department does not deal with tendering processes, calling spot quotations, acceptance of offers and others.’’Meanwhile, office-bearers of Airport Authority Employees Union said the car parking allotments have always been decided politically. The contract goes to the agencies favoured by the ruling parties in the Centre. A senior office bearer of the Maharashtra unit of the BJP is reportedly associated with this favoured company, which got the contract during the NDA regime. Though the company had changed, they claimed that the ownership was the same, they said.Several times, the union had raised the issue with the AAI, but had not elicited any response.H S Bains, Director, Chennai Airport, claimed that the parking contract had been given to the same party because of litigation. But with the High Court having issued instructions, efforts are on to sort things out. However, the open contract system, claims Bains, is the norm followed for letting out the car parking facility.