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Touted as India’s first smart city and the country’s first International Financial Service Centre (IFSC), Gujarat International Financial Tec-City better known as GIFT City has seen only a handful of building come up in the last 11 years.
The project – a joint venture between the Gujarat Government and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) – was commissioned to host Indian and multinational financial conglomerates, and stock exchanges along with commercial and residential spaces
The project started in 2007 with around 110 buildings in the pipeline, with features such as a district cooling system, underground utility tunnel, and automated vacuum waste collection. But the slow pace of the work is not the only problem that the project faces.
With IL&FS defaulting over Rs 53,000 crores to banks, the Gujarat government has indicated that it will buy out the infrastructure giant’s 50 percent stake in GIFT City. However, IL&FS already owes thousands of crores to the Gujarat government in profits made from the sale of development rights of GIFT City.
Anjaria spoke to The Quint and explained what irregularities were plaguing the multi-crore infrastructure project.
The Quint also approached Ajay Pandey, Managing Director of GIFT City Project and wrote to Sharad Goel, Chief Communications Officer of IL&FS group. However, both refused to comment stating the matter is sub judice.
Anjaria further claimed that GUDC was not paid 1 percent premium on development rights sold – around Rs 80 crores on Rs 8,000.
Anjaria in his PIL claims that one of the biggest red flags he observed during his stint in GIFT city was awarding architectural and engineering contracts to Fairwood Consultants without engaging in any competitive bidding process.
Anjaria made efforts to recover fees from Fairwood for incomplete projects; however, “the contract with Fairwood had a stipulation where fees paid in advance to it will not be repaid even if the project is left incomplete,” Anjaria said.
As it turns out, even IL&FS was given the contract by Gujarat Government without competitive bidding,
“Both the contracts were given without competitive bidding. I have pointed out in my PIL that both these contracts are ultra vires, as they were awarded without due process in violation of Gujarat Infrastructure Development Act.”
In his PIL Anjaria has claimed that the minutes of the board meeting were doctored. He said he had suggested sweeping changes to improve finances and operations, all of which were altered in the written record of the meeting.
According to Anjaria, since the GIFT project is a public infrastructure project funded by the government, it should fall under the purview of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
“CAG doesn’t need anybody’s permission to audit GIFT city. The board is actively avoiding GIFT from CAG and RTI’s ambit. When I tried to raise this issue during my tenure as director, I was simply told CAG and RTI is not applicable to the project,” Anjaria said.
Anjaria told The Quint that before he was ousted as independent director, he requested the board to promote him to an executive role in the GIFT Project.
“The board agreed initially, but later they shunned me out on rotation-basis, claiming that I was the most senior independent auditor in GIFT. The truth is I was the second most senior auditor in GIFT, yet I understood why I was shown the door.”
In November 2015, Anjaria filed a PIL against, GIFT, IL&FS and GUDC pointing several irregularities in the GIFT City Project.
Anjaria staunchly believes that the Gujarat government is doing the right thing by buying out IL&FS’ stake in the GIFT City Project.
“IL&FS is a hinderance to the project and GIFT should be managed and controlled by the government. However, there are thousands of crores in dues that are pending and IL&FS is in no position to pay back the state,” Anjaria concluded.
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