BENGALURU: Higher Education Minister Basavaraja Rayareddy is in trouble after the students’ wing of his own party has accused him of perpetrating a multi-crore rupee scam in the purchase of blank marks cards for various universities. National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), students wing of the Congress party, blamed Rayareddy for favouring one company in the purchase and inflating the prices of the marks cards.
NSUI state president HS Manjunatha submitted a memorandum in this regard to All India Congress Committee General Secretary in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, K C Venugopal, demanding “to immediately instruct the minister to withdraw the order for purchase of blank marks cards”. The New Indian Express was the first to report irregularities in the purchase of marks cards in its edition dated May 18, 2017.
The memorandum said that Rayareddy showed undue favour to a private vendor based in Mumbai by forcing the state government agency Mysore Sales International Limited (MSIL) to source the marks cards from this Mumbai company, thus violating the rules and regulations of tender process under Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act.
‘Tell minister to roll back order’
The NSUI state president wanted Rayareddy to immediately withdraw the order given to the vendor and safeguard the reputation of the universities and students.