Srinagar: With a house committee of the J&K assembly set to begin its probe into the alleged multi-crore Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scam, former IAS officer and whistleblower Ashok Kumar Parmar has approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to book former chief secretary Arun Kumar Mehta among others for abusing public office and corruption.In a letter citing the court rulings on April 12, Parmar has told the ACB that there was “credible evidence” to prosecute Mehta and three retired chief engineers of J&K’s Jal Shakti department under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and other charges for “causing massive loss to the state exchequer” in the execution of the centrally-sponsored scheme.The retired chief engineers have been identified as Manesh Bhat, Humesh Manchanda and Basharat Jeelani Kawoosa. The letter accuses Mehta and the three officers of being involved in a criminal conspiracy in the procurement of pipes worth Rs 6000 crore “to misappropriate public funds, abuse public office for personal gain and cause wrongful loss to the government in violation of statutory provisions and government orders”.The former chief secretary of J&K “abused public power for personal gain, colluded with suppliers, and misled the Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Home Affairs, causing financial loss and delaying JJM implementation,” the letter alleges.Also read: J&K: Centre Initiates Disciplinary Proceedings Against IAS Officer Who Flagged Corruption‘No approval taken’Parmar alleges that Mehta did not obtain administrative approval of the administrative council chaired by J&K lieutenant governor for the procurement of pipes which was mandatory as per SO 15 and, despite his concerns, Mehta also didn’t cancel “irregular contracts” which led to “enrichment of contractors/suppliers”.The 1992-batch IAS officer has called for a thorough probe into the invoices and inventory of the pipes and the role of contractors who he alleges may have “claimed duplicate payments for works/pipes under multiple contracts” under the scheme which is aimed at providing potable drinking water to all households of J&K.Mission misses deadlineThe JJM, which was rolled out by the Bhartiya Janta Party-led Union government on August 15 2019, missed its second deadline in J&K last year with only 15,06,729 of 18,69,467 targeted households (80.5%) covered under the scheme.In the letter, Parmar alleges that Mehta abused his office and facilitated the transfer of Manchanda to the Jal Shakti department and other officers in order to commit financial irregularities with the help of unknown contractors.The officer claims that Mehta and other officers of the department “misrepresented” the operational water supply schemes in J&K as new JJM projects to “justify unnecessary procurement” of pipes.Mehta held 30 meetings between May 5, 2022 to August 7, 2022 to “push pipe procurement indicating undue influence”, according to the letter, which notes that Parmar was transferred on August 7, 2022, allegedly for proposing to cancel the use of High-Density Polyethylene pipes worth Rs. 582.50 crore in the scheme which were allegedly unsuitable for J&K’s hilly terrain.The alleged scam created uproar during the recently concluded budget session in J&K, prompting the speaker Abdul Rahim Rather on March 22 to order the constitution of a house committee.On April 9, an order by the assembly secretariat set up an 11-member committee including the ruling and the opposition legislators headed by retired J&K high court judge, Justice Hasnain Masoodi, who is also a senior National Conference leader, to probe the matter.‘Repeated letters’Parmar, who is being prosecuted by the government for flouting service rules, has told the ACB that he wrote about a Rs. 2993.88-crore discrepancy in the flagship scheme to Mehta in a letter on July 20, 2022 (Letter No: PS/Prpl-Secy/JSD/2022).Parmar states that he also wrote six letters to Ajay Kumar Bhalla, the then Union home secretary, from 2022 to 2023 and five letters to Atal Dullo, the incumbent chief secretary of J&K, last year about the alleged criminal conspiracy, including “large scale transfers” in violation of J&K’s transfer policy, for facilitation of the irregularities.The letter alleges that Bhat, then chief engineer of Jal Shakti department in Jammu, was suspended on July 27, 2022, for his alleged poor performance in the execution of the JJM in Jammu division without inquiry by his parent department and Manchanda was brought as his replacement allegedly at the behest of Mehta, even though his confirmation as superintendent engineer was pending.The decision to post Manchanda in Jammu wing of Jal Shakti department was taken despite a pending departmental inquiry and a case of fraud filed against him as executive engineer in Irrigation and Flood Control by J&K Vigilance Organisation (now ACB, under FIR No. 23/2016) for allegedly “embezzling cement bags and steel”, the letter states, adding that the elevation of Manchanda was a violation of J&K government order No. 194-JK(JSD) of 2022 and No. 10-JK(JSD) of 2023 and it “constitutes a criminal conspiracy”.In 2012, a project was launched to build a barrage on the Tawi but it remains incomplete. Photo: Nidhi Jamwal/FileThe letter states that Manchanda was also involved in the Tawi Barrage project cost overrun in which a departmental probe was ordered. According to sources, Manchanda had allegedly clubbed tenders of tourism and housing and urban development departments, allegedly to favour some contractors. Following the inquiry, the tenders were cancelled. Parmar also alleges that Manchanda was involved in embezzling water usage charges as executive engineer, Jal Shakti department, Jammu city.Irregularities allegedThe letter accuses Mehta of forcing a Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service officer to exonerate Manchanda in an inquiry in 2023 in order to “enable his role in irregular procurements”.After his new posting, the letter states that Manchanda placed orders for GI/DI pipes worth Rs 3,559 crore and HDPE pipes worth Rs 582.5 crore for the scheme in Jammu division, despite the detailed project reports (DPRs) and district action plans specifying the use of only GMS Tubes or GI Pipes and ISI-marked centrifugally cast (spun) ductile iron (DI) pipes, according to the letter.“This violated administrative approvals and technical sanctions. The procurement contravened Rule 225(i) of General Financial Rules (GFR), 2017, and Rule 204(i) of GFR, 2005, requiring precise and definite contract terms. HDPE pipes were procured without administrative approval or technical sanction, deviating from approved DPRs,” the letter points out.The procurement orders also violated the directive of the JJM apex committee headed by Mehta on June 23, 2022, the letter states, adding that the orders allegedly bypassed the Jal Shakti department’s contract committee, Mehta’s directions on August 2 2022 in a meeting, the departmental contract committee, administrative department approvals (SO-15 dated 09-01- 2020) and finance department’s clarification (U.O. No. FD- Code/73/2021-03-980, dated 28-07-2022).“Suppliers (granted undue favours) provided inferior/substandard HDPE pipes made from recycled rubber, unsuitable for J&K’s hilly terrain, as evidenced by contractors’ protests and past vigilance probes into HDPE pipe failures. Arbitrary fixation of laying rates without tenders led to protests, accumulation of unused HDPE pipes in central stores, and subsequent shifting to divisional stores/sites to evade scrutiny, causing further financial loss. Some pipes developed cracks and perished,” the letter states.In Kashmir, the letter alleges that Kawoosa, then chief engineer Jal Shakti department, placed orders for GI pipes worth Rs 700 crore and DI pipes worth Rs 690 crore by allegedly extending contracts which were not approved, bypassing re-tendering despite high bids and engaging in “cartelised negotiations”.According to the letter, the orders for pipes also evaded administrative council approval, mandatory scrutiny by the administrative department committee (SO-15 dated 09-01-2020) and the finance department clarification (U.O. No. FD-Code/73/2021-03-980, dated 28-07-2022).The orders also violated Rule 225(i) of General Financial Rules (GFR) 2017 and Rule 204 (i) of GFR, 2005 that “mandate definite contract terms” as well as the Central Vigilance Commission guidelines, according to Parmar.Kawoosa granted “undue favors to suppliers by not placing procurement recommendations for approval,” the letter states.Parmer alleged that Kawoosa deliberately delayed the JJM civil works by “misinterpreting Clause 4.5.2 of the Manual for Procurement of Works, 2019 which limited contractors to two works at a time”.“This led to cost and time overruns due to ambiguous contracts, violating GFR provisions,” the letter states.Parmar claims that Mehta directed him to issue show-cause notices to both Kawoosa and Bhat for poor performance but while Bhat was suspended, Kawoosa was “spared for complying with illegal orders” as part of the alleged conspiracy.