RAJBIRAJ,Sept 20: Saptari District Development Committee has been found awarding contracts for various services, in breach of the terms and conditions under existing law.
The DDC signed an agreement with various contractors for collecting export tax on agricultural and herbal products among other things, in breach of legal provisions.
The DDC has approved various tenders for this fiscal year. Krishna Nirman Shewa was selected for a contract on July 20 for collecting export tax on agricultural and herbal products. The contract amounted to Rs 7,761,111.
The DDC breached the law when it signed the agreement papers with the contractor after a lapse of 20 days. This has incurred a revenue loss of Rs 414,307 to the DDC.
As per contract provisions under the Local Self-Governance Act, the DDC has to sign the agreement with the contractor within a week of the latter´s selection. The delay in signing the agreement has incurred a loss in revenue.
Local Development Officer Krishna Prasad Sapkota said that despite frequent requests from the DDC, the contractor did not come on time to sign the agreement. And four other contracts are yet to be signed with contractors selected last month.
In yet another breach of contract terms and conditions, the DDC has signed an agreement with Krishna Nirman Shewa although the latter has not satisfied the contract condition requiring a deposit of 5 percent of the total contract amount.
Similarly, the contractor has not yet produced a bank guarantee to provide 40 percent of the total amount to the DDC, as laid down in the contract conditions.
As per the contract conditions, the contractor should submit around Rs 2.5 million to the DDC. However, the DDC awarded the contract after receiving only Rs 630,000.
The DDC has denied breaching any legal provisions in awarding the contract. According to Nayab Subba at the DDC Gautam Kumar Chaudhari, the tender amount for export tax collection on agricultural and herbal products is higher than expected and the contract was already in effect even before the agreement was signed.
He also informed that the DDC has received a bank cheque of Rs 5.6 million as a guarantee. “We had signed the agreement on the condition that the contractor would pay the contract amount on monthly basis. If the contractors fails to deposit the amount by the 7th day of every Nepali month, an equal amount would be deducted from their bank guarantee,” Chaudhari informed.
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