Dissent over decision to call tenders

Some of the members of House committee constituted to probe alleged irregularities in the free laptop distribution scheme have submitted their note of dissent over the government’s decision to call fo

BENGALURU: Some of the members of House committee constituted to probe alleged irregularities in the free laptop distribution scheme have submitted their note of dissent over the government’s decision to call for tenders for the purchase of laptops.

The committee’s third meeting was conducted on Tuesday. After the meeting, the members met Legislative Council chairman D H Shankaramurthy, expressed their dissent and requested him to record their note of dissent. According to the members, in the meeting held on Tuesday, the representatives of the government/department of higher education have decided to call for tender despite opposition from a majority of the committee members.

Speaking to Express, a house committee member, who is a BJP MLC, said, “A majority of us have expressed opposition also, but despite this, they decided to go with the tender. We agree that more members of the committee were in their (government’s) support, but in Tuesday’s meeting, some members were absent and we were the majority.”

“Our demand is to start the entire process a fresh as they have violated norms by not following the Technical Advisory Panel recommendations while finalising specifications for purchase of laptops. This move by the government shows their motive,” mentions a member.

The issue of irregularities in the scheme was raised by BJP and JD(S) members in the Legislative Council session held recently at Belagavi. Following this, the Council had formed a house committee to probe this. In the first and second meeting, the committee directed the Department of Collegiate Education to provide the entire communication file related to the scheme. However, in the third meeting on Tuesday, it has been decided to call for tender by giving the reason that half of the academic year has already been over.

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