HC notice over excess payment by GCERT

Ahmedabad: Gujarat high court on Friday issued notice to the state government in response to a PIL seeking recovery of excess amount paid by the Gujarat Council for Education Research & Training (GCERT) while awarding printing contracts for textbooks and other study material.

Petitioner Prakash Kapadia filed the PIL last year for recovery of the excess amount of Rs 6.90 crore as highlighted by the CAT report in 2015. He had first filed a PIL to this effect in 2015, but the high court disposed of it a year later after the state government told the HC that it had initiated process to recover the amount from Reliable Art Printery (Ahmedabad) Pvt Ltd.

Claiming that the state government did not do its part even after the HC order, Kapadia filed a PIL in 2018. He has been demanding a probe by CID (crime) into allegations of manipulation in bills and excess payment.

The PIL has demanded investigation and an audit in connection with “organized economic fraud committed by Reliable Art Printery in collusion with the state authorities on the public at large”. It alleged that instead of printing cost that was fixed at 29 paise per double page, GCERT ended up in paying 52 paise. The CAG report highlighted this.

The HC has sought reply from the government on action taken within two weeks.