HC discharges two IITM officers from corruption case related to air quality displays in Pune

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday discharged two officers of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) from a 2019 case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly causing the institute a multi-crore-rupee loss while awarding a contract for air quality and weather monitoring displays in Pune.
A single judge bench of justice Sandeep Marne struck down the criminal proceedings against Dr Gufran Beig, a retired scientist, and Vipin Mali, a senior technical officer at IITM, saying there was no evidence indicating that they made any undue gains in awarding the contract.
The case is related to IITM’s System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR), an air quality monitoring and digital display system that’s installed at strategic locations in cities. In 2012, IITM had procured 12 outdoor and five indoor display systems in Pune from Mumbai-based Video Wall India for ₹4.66 crore on the recommendation of its commercial evaluation committee. Beig, the project leader at IITM at the time, had prepared the indent or purchase orders for the display systems.
Seven years later, in 2019, the CBI received information about irregularities in the supply and installation of some digital display systems. The agency then conducted surprise checks, during which one tile from the 11 displays installed at various locations was removed and taken for testing to the College of Engineering Pune (COEP).
COEP’s test reports concluded that the LED displays did not conform to the specifications in the tender notice, particularly regarding brightness. The CBI also alleged that Video Wall India procured the LED display units from China as they were cheaper in quality and price and, thereafter, cheated IITM in connivance with Beig and Mali.
The duo were arraigned as accused along with three senior executives from Video Wall India: managing director Anil Girkar, director Manisha Girkar, and authorised representative Manoj Kumar.
Beig’s lawyer, Rebecca Gonsalves pleaded that there was absolutely no wrongdoing on his part, saying he had followed IITM’s prescribed procedure during the procurement process without any deviation. She added that the entire process of procurement is conducted by a technical and commercial committee, so it was erroneous to selectively blame only Beig and Mali for decisions taken by the committees. More importantly, the minutes of both the committees were ultimately approved by the IITM director, she argued.
The court concurred with the argument, noting that the prosecution had not lodged a case against any of the members of the two committees or the then-director of IITM. It said the CBI did not have any chance of convicting the two applicants based on the material available on record, adding that continuing the prosecution of Beig and Mali would be “an abuse of process of law”.