A senior bureaucrat has been pulled up for reportedly sanctioning more than Rs 46 crore for the now cancelled Formula E event in the city in Telangana even before a formal agreement was signed with the organisers.
IAS officer Arvind Kumar, who headed the Department of Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) under the previous BRS regime, is also accused of providing the funds without the knowledge of the state finance department.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) regime under K T Rama Rao was keen on holding the event, but the Congress government which came to power recently has outright refused to organize the same.
As Revanth Reddy took charge as the chief minister of Telangana, Kumar was transferred from MAUD department to the low-profile Department of Disaster Management.
On the day Formula E announced the cancellation of the race in Hyderabad, Chief Secretary Shanthi Kumari called for an explanation from Kumar within seven days over serious violations, particularly for concluding agreements with Formula E for organizing racing events in Hyderabad for its seasons 9 and10 without approvals from competent authorities.
The chief secretary’s letter, dated January 6, detailed the nine points on which Kumar deviated from the rules, chief among them was paying Rs 46 crore plus the tax amount of Rs 9 crore which were paid from the coffers of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) “even before the agreement was signed and without obtaining the concurrence of the HMDA’s board of directors as well as that of the finance department of the state government”.
Kumar was also asked to explain “why a formal consent from the competent authority was not taken when a major policy decision involving huge financial commitment for conduct of the Formula E event in season 10 as well as the commitment to conduct the event for next two seasons was committed”.
“Why due permission was not taken and the issue not brought to the notice of the competent authority when the tripartite agreement was terminated by the FEO, allowing the promoter, who was at gross default, go free from any liability while the additional burden of conducting the event besides hosting the same was passed on to the Government?” the letter stated.
Sources claim Kumar was one of the influential departmental secretaries in the BRS government since he headed a department under K T Rama Rao. There had been complaints about the influence wielded by the Bihar lobby among IAS officers in the state during the BRS regime, particularly when Somesh Kumar was the chief secretary.
When Formula E announced the cancellation of the race, Rao had slammed the Congress government’s decision calling it a “poor and regressive decision” while arguing that electric vehicles (EVs) were the future and Formula E would have boosted the sector in the southern state.