Missing documents make CWG OC legal battle tough

The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee has found that some of the documents related to court cases filed by private companies are missing from its files.

The matter came to light recently after OC officials faced legal notices from the companies seeking their outstanding payments related to the works done by them in the run up to the sporting extravaganza held during October 3-14, 2010.

"There is deficiency in documents related to the contracts executed by the OC for various works," said Jarnail Singh, Chief Executive Officer of the Games organising body.

He said that officials are trying to find out the papers related to the documents. Officials fear that documents might have been intentionally destroyed or removed.

The OC, which is under lens of investigating agencies for alleged financial irregularities, is facing about 30 legal cases filed by private companies and some of its former employees over various matters.

According to the official, the cases have been filed in various courts here and in Pune related to the dispute in finance, workforce, catering, merchandising, cleaning and waste management, technology and other functional areas.

"There are 30 court cases going on. They are at different stages. Some firms have also served legal notices seeking to settle works related issues," Singh said.

He said that OC lawyers are attending to the legal cases in various courts. "There are firms who have gone to court seeking pending payments. All of them were denied payments by OC as they did not work properly," Singh said.

The cases have been filed by M/s Nussli (Switzerland) Ltd, ex-treasurer M Jayachandran (who is lodged in Tihar prisons), AFP Manufacturing Company Pvt Ltd, ISS Integrated Facility Services Pvt Ltd and M/s Premier Brands among others. Singh said that the OC has digitised all its documents related to different projects to keep them secure and readily available in case of need.

In one of the cases, OC officials have found that its former chairman Suresh Kalmadi, who is lodged in Tihar jail, is made arbitrator to resolve dispute.

"We have found that Kalmadi is made arbitrator in one of the cases. The OC has brought it to the notice of the court and is finding out the ways," another senior official of the Games organising body said.

Former OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot, among others, is in judicial custody for his alleged involvement in corrupt practices.

The CBI has registered 15 FIRs in connection with CWG projects carried out by certain government departments. Besides, the Central Vigilance Commission is inquiring into 71 complaints of alleged wrong doings in various CWG-related works.