Bengaluru: The House Committee, probing the alleged irregularities in procurement of laptops for certain sections of students in government colleges for the year 2017-18, found procedural lapses while laying down tender specifications for procurement of free laptops.
Sources said that the State government had decided to overrule some of the decisions taken by the Technical Approval Panel (TAP) in matters pertaining to configuration of laptops as well as warranty. They added that the mechanism for maintenance of laptops had also been tweaked when compared with the previous year where tenders were called for procurement of 38,000 laptops for students from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities in government degree as well as government engineering colleges.
This year, the State government decided to distribute 1.8 lakh laptops to students belonging to SC, ST communities as well as from lower economic backgrounds in government degree colleges and other students pursuing professional education in government colleges.
Sources also said that although the tender for 1.8 lakh laptops has not been floated, there were clear procedural lapses by the government. The committee has also raised the issue of why Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayaraddi approved the tender specifications of laptops twice, based on the first meeting of the TAP and not on the second meeting.
