CBI forms SIT to look into CAG report on CWG

New Delhi: The CBI has formed a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to study the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on Commonwealth games and to see whether any fresh case could be registered.

The SIT, headed by a Joint Director, will also collaborate with other investigating agencies like the Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate, CBI sources said.

The SIT would be recommending whether any fresh case is possible apart from 14 regular cases and three Preliminary Enquiries, which have been registered by the agency on recommendations of the Central Vigilance Commission.

The CAG has been critical of Sheila Dikshit Government on import of street lights at higher price and claimed that due to "active involvement of the Delhi Chief Minister", exchequer suffered a loss of nearly Rs 31 crore.

It also claimed to have found irregularities in the award of contract to Emaar MGF for construction of the CWG residential complex.

The renovation and restoration project of Connaught Place witnessed a nine-fold increase in cost from the estimated Rs 76 crore to Rs 671 crore.

Streetscaping and beautification works were awarded and executed in an arbitrary manner with wasteful expenditure of Rs 101 crore, the report said.

"In the absence of a single point of authority and accountability, and the lack of a clear governance structure, a multiplicity of coordination committees was created, disbanded and reconstituted at different points of time," it said.

According to the CAG, the Organising Committee's performance in revenue general was "consistently poor across all major revenue streams".

CAG said the the Organising Committee (OC) could generate committed sponsorship revenue of just Rs 375.16 crore (against the target of Rs 960 crore), out of which nearly 67 per cent was from Government agencies/ PSUs.

No revenue has been received on account of merchandising and licensing rights, the report said.

OC's performance on ticketing was also deficient. Gross ticketing revenue of just Rs 39.17 crore was realised (against the target of Rs 100 crore).

The appointment of the ticketing consultant and the ticketing agency was delayed enormously, and sale of tickets commenced only in September 2010, the report said.

On project for modernisation of Delhi Street Lighting System, CAG said detailed lighting standards were prepared in November 2006.

"Although these standards provided only the technical parameters of performance of lamps and luminaries and did not distinguish between indigenous and imported luminaries, PWD stipulated the use of a mix of imported and indigenous luminaries for different categories of roads.

"Records show the decision on use of imported luminaries being taken with the active involvement of the CM at various stages.

"No technical note regarding reasons for use of imported luminaries along with cost benefit analysis was found on record," the report said.

The imported luminaries were procured at a far higher cost than the domestic luminaries, leading to avoidable extra expenditure of Rs 31.07 crore across the three agencies.

Models of various companies of vastly different repute and of different price range were selected at the same level, without any record of techno-economic evaluation of options offered by different bidders.

"We also found that the procurement price of imported luminaries was far higher than the fair price computed on the basis of actual invoice price," the CAG claimed.