Telangana HC Issues Notice in Paddy Tender Corruption Case

A division bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao on Friday issued notices to the Centre, the state government, Civil Supplies Corporation and others, directing them to file their contentions in a PIL alleging that the state exchequer lost more than ₹1,100 crore due to the corrupt practices in the tenders for the sale of paddy. The Bench was dealing with a PIL filed by Peddi Sudharshan Reddy, former BRS MLA and former chairman of the Civil Supplies Corporation Limited. The petitioner accused the corporation of engaging in illegal sale of paddy beyond the stipulated 90-day tender period at significantly lower prices.

According to the PIL, the corporation sold paddy at ₹20,040 per metric tonne (MT), against the market rate of ₹22,300. This alone resulted in a loss of ₹188.7 crore. The PIL also claimed discrepancies in the sale of the sanna biyyam (fine) variety of paddy. The petitioner claimed that while the corporation sold paddy at ₹24,071 per MT, it called for the procurement of the same variety at ₹56,799, just a month later. The same officer is said to have issued both the sale and procurement tenders. The petitioner alleged that this manipulation was done to benefit select bidders and cost the corporation ₹350 crore.

The petition asked the High Court to declare the sale of paddy under the e-tender dated January 24 as illegal and unconstitutional, stating that the tender period had expired. The petitioner urged the court to direct the corporation to recover ₹2,260 per MT from private respondents involved in these transactions and to forfeit the earnest money deposit (EMT) and security deposit (SD) of the millers who participated in the tenders.

This article has been republished from The Deccan Chronicle.