The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Maharashtra Legislature has recommended filing a criminal complaint against the organising committee of the 2008 Youth Commonwealth Games, headed by Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi.
The committee has also recommended an inquiry by a special investigation team into several projects undertaken by the Public Works Department under Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader.
Neither Mr. Kalmadi nor Mr. Bhujbal was available for comment. The NCP, however, said the PAC had only made recommendations and had not passed a verdict. “The government will decide whether to take action or not. It will go under scrutiny and appropriate decision will soon be taken,” Nawab Malik, party’s chief spokesperson, said.
The PAC has alleged that the organising committee of the Games did not submit details of the Rs. 25 crore spent on the event. “Despite repeatedly seeking the expenditure details, the committee submitted incomplete and photocopied pages,” PAC Chairman Girish Bapat said.
As a result, the Auditor-General expressed inability to verify the authenticity of the documents. The Chief Minister, three months ago, agreed to file a criminal complaint if the organising committee failed to submit the documents. However, this was still not done, the PAC report said.
The report recommended an inquiry into three major projects undertaken by the PWD — Maharashtra Sadan in New Delhi, Highmount Guest House in Mumbai and an RTO building in the Andheri suburb. The same developer was involved in all three projects.
The PAC observed that due to the favours extended by the government the developer profited by Rs. 5000-6000 crores.
“This scam extends outside Maharashtra. In this case we recommend an SIT be conducted by the CBI,” said the report
