Controller General of patents ‘caught in’ computer scam

A committee set up by Union Commerce and Industry Ministry has indicted Professor Dr Unnat P Pandit, Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM), for alleged “administrative lapses” in the purchase of 1,200 ‘all-in-one’ personal computers for offices spread across the country at an inflated cost of ₹9,99,75,600.

Despite the indictment, Dr Pandit continues to be the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks supervising the working of, among others, the Patents Act, 1970, the Designs Act, 2000 and the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and rendering advice to the Government on all matters relating to these subjects. All efforts to get a response from Dr Pandit with regard to his indictment and the inquiry that led to it proved futile as he did not respond to businessline’s e-mails, Whatsapp messages and phone calls to him as well his Mumbai office.

The deal for which the Controller General has been indicted came under the scanner after Dr Pandit gave a go ahead to a tender with single effective bid in July last year, and without taking the consent of Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal as rules prescribe.

The office of CGPDTM purchased the computers from Minitek Systems India Private Ltd through a work order of July 7, 2023, rejecting seven of eight vendors. The seven vendors were rejected on grounds such as “non-submission of EMD (earnest money deposit)“, “non submission of undertaking” to create a single bid situation during tendering through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) -- the government procurement portal, information accessed by businessline revealed.

This led the Commerce Minister to convene a meeting in January, this year, to review the major capital expenditures of the Mumbai-based office of Dr Unnat. The Minister-chaired committee directed to refer this matter to GeM along with all relevant documents for proper scrutiny which eventually unravelled the large-scale irregularities in the computer purchase.

GeM, in its report submitted to the Ministry on January 19, 2024, flagged serious violations of various government procurement processes that prompted the Secretary, Department For Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), to constitute a three member committee headed by Chief Controller of Accounts Rajesh Kumar, Director of Intellectual Property Right (IPR) Dr Kajal and Senior Technical Director Anil Awasthi to probe the contract. “There were administrative lapses on the part of the CG (Controller General). There is a blatant violation of the GFR Rules, 2017, as well as the Delegation of Financial Powers by the CG, as he did not obtain the approval of competent authority, Commerce and Industry Minister, before placing the instant order,” the three-member panel concluded in its three-page report of March 5, this year. It requested the Ministry for “further necessary action”.

On March 29, the IPR section of DPIIT issued a show-cause notice to Dr Pandit seeking an explanation in writing over “why disciplinary action should not be initiated against you for violation of delegated financial powers and the provisions contained in the GFR, 2017”.

Dr Pandit has responded to the charges made out against him, sources in the Ministry said. However, the response was prima facie not satisfactory but a decision on action against Pandit and bid evaluation committee members is yet to be taken, Ministry sources added.