New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Tata Consulting Engineers, a Tata Group company, other private firms, and some officials with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), a public sector undertaking, for allegedly causing losses of nearly Rs 803 crore to the Nhava Sheva Port. In its FIR, the agency attributed said losses to alleged cartelisation in contracts and inflated bills for port dredging.
According to the agency, alleged irregularities inflicted a loss of Rs 365.9 crore on JNPT during the first phase of dredging, which was conducted between 2010 and 2014, and Rs 438 crore in the second phase, which was said to have been conducted between 2012 and 2019.
Dredging of ports involves removal of marine rocks and clay from beneath the water surface to increase the depth of the navigation channel. In the case of JNPT, the process started in May 2003. The plan was to accommodate large-size cargo ships.
On Wednesday, the CBI booked Tata Consulting Engineers project director Devdutt Bose; Sunil Kumar Madabhavi, a chief manager-level officer of the JNPT; two other firms in the marine engineering field, Mumbai-based Boskalis Smit India LLP and Chennai-based Jan De Nul Dredging India; and some unidentified public servants in the case.
The CBI FIR, filed Wednesday, came more than three years after the probe agency, in June 2022, opened a preliminary enquiry (PE) into the allegations of collusion between JNPT officials and some private companies, leading to inflated estimates and restricted competition aimed at extending benefits solely to the colluding companies.
Moreover, the CBI said it found that suppression of reports of independent experts and abuse of positions by JNPT officials resulted in excess payment for dredging beyond the Design Dredge Level (DDL). During the inquiry, “the criminal conspiracy between the JNPT officials and other private persons, resulting in the wrongful loss, amounting to Rs 365.90 crore for phase-I and Rs 438 crore for phase-II to JNPT due to over-dredging has surfaced,” a CBI official noted in the complaint, which formed the basis of the CBI FIR.
CBI FIR on conflict of interest, excess payment
Nearly seven years after receiving a detailed report to increase the depth of the navigational channel at the port, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) roped in the Tata Consulting Engineer (TCE) for a final report on the dredging plan and cost estimate.
The TCE and Dredging Solution, another firm, prepared the final report in December 2010, the CBI FIR has documented.
The TCE was also awarded the work of the project management consultant for the first phase. So, it was responsible for preparing tender documents and supervising project execution, the CBI FIR has further stated. Moreover, the TCE recommended three alternative dredging proposals and the modalities for each.
It also recommended a second phase of the exercise to cater to the expected increased traffic at the port in 2020. Then, TCE, jointly with E&Y and Howe Engineering Project (India), prepared a final report.
Similar to the final report of the first phase, Howe Engineering Project (India) suggested three alternatives for dredging to accommodate 20-foot-size ships, which have a capacity of 12,500 20-foot equivalent units. TCE was also made the project management consultant for the second phase, ignoring the conflict of interest.
In the complaint to the agency, leading to an FIR, a CBI official noted a “significant delay” in the dredging work from 2010 onwards, without proper assessment of prevailing dredging requirements since the detailed project report was prepared way back in May 2003.
The investigators further noted that while the first phase was in progress, JNPT management led by Sunil Kumar Madabhavi had already assigned TCE the work to write the final report for the second phase. The second phase of the project began and the payment for it made based on the TCE report in violation of the JNPT board-adopted project note, which explicitly mentioned that the two phases of dredging would be taken up separately.
The CBI FIR has noted that in the first phase, the excess dredging, 14.85 million cubic metre beyond the DDL, resulted in a Rs 365.90 crore excess payment, a loss for the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. “JNPT officials, in connivance with the PMC (project management consultant) and contractor, have also made an excess payment of Rs.430 crores to the contractor for over dredging made in Phase-II,” the FIR has stated.
According to the CBI FIR, two different software were used to conduct the survey before and after the second phase of dredging. The pre-dredging survey used one software known for accuracy and widely accepted globally. However, the post-dredging survey used software patented by one of the parties in the deal on the behest of one Devdutt Bose, the project director on behalf of TCE, the FIR has claimed.
Additionally, the CBI FIR alleged that Bose, along with JNPT chief manager in the planning, projects, and development (PP&D) department Sunil Kumar Madabhavi, hatched a conspiracy to allow shadow bidding by a joint venture between Boskalis Smit India LLP and Jan De Nul Dredging India and extended undue financial favours, including payments amounting to Rs 348 crore to the companies in the second phase for work already executed in the first phase, without any such work taking place.
“The above acts of commission and omission on the part of 1) Shri Sunil Kumar Madabhavi, the then Chief Manager (PP&D), JNPT, 2) Shri Devdutt Bose, Project Director with M/s TCE, 3) M/s Tata Consulting Engineers, 4) M/s BoskalisSmit India LLP, 5) M/s Jan De Nul Dredging India Pvt. Ltd. and 6) other unknown public servant and private persons, disclose commission of offences punishable U/s 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC r/w 420 (cheating) of IPC and Section 13 (2) r/w 13(1) (d) of PC Act, 1988 (un-amended) and substantive offences thereof. Therefore, it is requested that a regular case may be registered against the above mentioned persons,” the CBI official documented.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: Another closure report in 2010 CWG ‘scam’. Here’s what happened to the 19 FIRs filed since 2010