HYDERABAD: The tripartite agreement that the state government signed with Formula E Operation and a private promoter had the approval of the then Municipal Administration & Urban Development (MA&UD) minister KT Rama Rao, clarified Special Chief Secretary of Revenue (Disaster Management) Arvind Kumar in his reply to a memo from the Telangana government.
The memo issued to Arvind on January 6 by Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari cited “serious violations” in connection with the Formula E deal and asked the former special chief secretary of MA&UD department why the agreement was entered into without following “due process of approval from the competent authority”.
Noting that the then MAUD minister was the competent authority, Arvind added in his reply that the letter of intent to host the event in Hyderabad was entered into with Formula E Operations (FEO) in the presence of Rama Rao in January 2022.
Asked why the promoter, “who was at gross default”, allowed “to go free from any liability” without properly examining the financial implications, Arvind said the process is not over yet and “legal action against the then promoter would have been initiated”. It’s open for the state government to go ahead accordingly, he pointed out.
“The organisers from the FEO were keen to continue the race in Hyderabad and the Minister for Municipal Administration, in view of the time-bound deadlines which were fast nearing, had instructed the MAUD dept. to go ahead with the event for Season 10,” Arvind said in his reply.
Arvind said that since Hyderabad had already missed the first provisional list of cities for Season 10, Rama Rao had directed the HMDA to conduct the race by paying the fee, “pending finalisation of an alternate promoter and legal action against the then promoter”.
“The search to find another private player as promoter was very much on and was on the verge of being finalised during end October/early November 2023,” he pointed out and noted that the fee was paid with an understanding that an alternate promoter would be in place before the race. The Rs 51 crore was “more like an investment from the HMDA to be reimbursed once a new promoter was confirmed”, he said.
The memo also asked Arvind why a fresh agreement with Formula E was entered into when the Model Code of Conduct was in force. The agreement and the first instalment of payment were made before the MCC came into force, Arvind clarified, and noted that “Season 10 was in continuance of the race held in the previous year”.
The decision to go ahead with Season 10 was taken by the state government with the approval of Rama Rao, who perhaps saw benefits in terms of “international visibility and branding” and that this will help “attract investments not only in electric mobility but also in other sectors”, Arvind noted in his reply to the memo.
Denying allegations against him, the special chief secretary said, “It was not an individual decision of the officer at any point of time. There is not an iota of any sort of administrative violation, misconduct, corruption or criminal wrongdoing.”