Law minister says ‘consider’; BBMP acts

Law minister says ‘consider’; BBMP acts

A letter of recommendation by Suresh Kumar which said ‘examine and consider’ was read simply as ‘consider’ and the result

Atul Chaturvedi
Posted On Sunday, January 04, 2009 at 11:34:09 AM

The minister wrote on a recommendation letter ‘Examine and Consider.’ The BBMP officials decided to act on the word ‘Consider’. Resultant effect: Motorists ended up paying thousands of rupees as parking fees.

The pay-and-park scheme scam that unfolded on Friday on the city’s main roads has its roots in a letter that was inadvertently signed by law minister Suresh Kumar.

Kumar had signed on a letter addressed to Additional Commissioner (East) S Puttaswamy on Dec 8 stating that the Pay and Park contract be awarded to G Subramanya, managing partner, Aishwarya Associates of K R Puram. Though no final decision was taken, BBMP’s Assistant Revenue Officer (ARO) Jagdish kept his seniors in the dark and issued the orders in favour of Subramanya. Interestingly, BBMP has not yet taken any decision on imposing the Pay and Park system although the first budget of BBMP has made a provision for the same in 2007.

In his letter, Kumar had told BBMP officials that Subramanya is an ex-Army men and his association named Aishwarya Associates is into house keeping and undertakes parking and labor contracts. Hence, the parking contracts for St Marks Road, Lavelle Road and Cross Roads, M G Road, Krishna Temple Road (Indiranagar) Brunton Road, from Kidskemp to Richmond Road, Ali Askar Road, from Jyoti Nivas to 5th main Road and Millers Road could be given to him.

Action against ARO

The letter was received by Additional Commissioner Puttaswamy on December 16 and forwarded to ARO Jagdish on December 17. Puttaswamy told Bangalore Mirror, “We had planned to give the contract to a physically handicapped person but we had not passed orders for any contract to be awarded to any associates. The ARO has extrapolated my notes and issued illegall orders to the said associates. The Pay and Park System has been withdrawn from Friday itself and action will be taken against the ARO.”

“I have written a letter to the BBMP Commissioner asking him to suspend the ARO as he kept me in the dark.”

Law Minister Suresh Kumar said, “Many people come and ask for reccomandation letters. I clearly mentioned that necessary action should be taken after examining the process.”