Cong puts Kalmadi on Parl roster duty, retracts

New Delhi: In a major embarrassment for the Congress, Pune MP Suresh Kalmadi, accused in the Commonwealth Games scam and currently out on bail, was included on Parliament roster duty. When the matter came to light Congress chief whip Girija Vyas tried to play it down, saying that including Kalmadi's name was a clerical error.

Although Kalmadi being a Congress MP can technically be put on roster duty, the party has been distancing itself from him after the CWG scam

Kalmadi was removed as Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party following allegations of his involvement in the Commonwealth Games scam.

Kalmadi, along with former director general of CWG VK Verma and nine others has been accused of allegedly awarding a contract to a Swiss firm to install a Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) system for the Games at an exorbitant rate, causing a loss of over Rs 90 crore to the state exchequer.

According to the CBI chargesheet against Swiss Timing, sacked CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi and others escalated the Swiss firm's tender cost, causing a loss of Rs 90 crore to the exchequer.

Swiss Timing had approached the Delhi HC saying the CBI had adopted a wrong procedure to execute summons, and therefore, the proceedings could not be allowed.

The Delhi HC, however, dismissed the plea by Swiss Timing to stay the lower court proceeding against them.

The TSR scam

The selection process for awarding the TSR contract took around three years. Swiss Timing's first presentation was made one year after the publication of expression of interest and the expression of interest was issued by the then Commonwealth Games Organising Committee secretary general Lalit Bhanot without the knowledge of Games Finance Committee

Swiss Timing itself recorded Rs 18 crore as escalation cost due to delays. Former Organising Committee director general VK Verma changed the eligibility criteria of the TSR deal without bringing it to the notice of Organising Committee Executive Board.

Kalmadi ensured that the committee formed to approve the TSR deal consisted of those who favoured Swiss Timing. Two officials, VK Gautam and Sujit Panigrahi, were forced to resign from their positions in the Organising Committee as they opposed the choice of Swiss Timing.