According to recent revelations, a Bengaluru-based private firm named SRIT India, which secured the controversial AI camera deal under the Safe Kerala Project from Keltron, further outsourced the work to shell companies formed solely for the purpose of bagging the contract. It has been found that SRIT subleased the AI deal to a total of five companies, two of which were formed specifically for this project. Additionally, it was discovered that one of the companies had misused the name of a German company. With the controversy surrounding the AI camera deal, the websites of all three companies suddenly stopped functioning.
It has been pointed out that the same person who is the director of SRIT, which secured the contract, is also in charge of Trois Infotech, which provided the ‘Manufacturer Authorization’ to secure the deal. Additionally, it has been noted that Keltron, which published all other ‘safe’ documents in connection with the deal on its website, stopped short of revealing the Technical Evaluation Bid, which shows the technical expertise of SRIT, raising suspicion.
The violation of tender norms is clearly indicated in the ‘Sub-contract section’ of the tender document, where it is stated that Keltron has the authority to recognize the subcontract deal and the subcontracting company. This is a breach of norms that dictate that crucial works such as data security, data integrity, and equipment configuration should not be outsourced. However, the Industries minister and Keltron reiterate that the company that won the bid (SRIT) only needs to inform Keltron of its further subcontracting of the project.
It is important to note that the administrative sanction issued by the State Government on April 27, 2020, and the Service Legal Agreement signed between the Transport Department and Keltron on May 28, 2020, both state that a technical committee presided by the Transport Principal Secretary should closely monitor every stage of the project implementation. However, the violation of tender norms and the setting up of shell companies for just bagging the contracts make it clear that the monitoring exercise by the technical committee was not carried out at any stage.
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