Revanth Reddy Asks Arvind Kumar To Withdraw His Legal Notice

TPCC president Revanth Reddy today asked the Principal Secretary of Municipal Administration and Urban Development and HMDA Metropolitan Commissioner Arvind Kumar to withdraw the legal notice dated May 25 2023 issued to him on behalf of the HMDA.

He warned that civil and criminal action would be taken against Arvind Kumar if he did not withdraw the legal notices given to him on May 25 in a matter related to the ORR toll contract.

Reddy replied to the legal notice sent by Arvind Kumar in the issue. In his reply, he said that Arvind Kumar, being an IAS officer, was supposed to follow the service rules, but was acting like a politician without following those rules and was not giving the information he was asked for.

"According to the All India Services (Conduct) Rules 1968, an IAS officer should act neutrally without political motives. But Arvind Kumar is speaking on behalf of the ruling BRS. Half of the Nehru ORR falls under the Malkajgiri parliamentary constituency, which I represent as MP. Even though there is a possibility of the government getting a higher income otherwise, the ORR toll collection tender has been awarded to IRB for 30 years for only Rs 7,380 crore. Contrary to the rules, a retired officer was appointed in place of the IAS officer and the tender process was completed. HMDA was replaced by HGCL (Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited) while the tender process continued. Moreover, there was no response from Arvind Kumar to many requests to disclose the base price related to the ORR tender," he said.

He added that the traffic on the ORR, and the report of the assessors evaluating the value of the tender, were also not being placed in the public domain. He claimed that all these strengthened the suspicions that something crooked had happened in the tendering process. He said that as a public representative he had the responsibility to respond on the issue, but that he was stopped and arrested by the State police without it even being considered that he was a public representative when he was going to find out the required information through RTI.

He asked why without providing the information asked Arvind Kumar was launching a counter attack against him like a politician. He claimed that all the allegations against him in the legal notice sent by Arvind Kumar were false, and that the notice was against the spirit of democracy. He alleged that the notice was given primarily to suppress the questioning of the ruling party's irregularities, and asserted that he would continue to fight on behalf of the people even if he was given a notice.

Meanwhile, reacting to the press note released by Revanth Reddy on his reply to the legal notice issued by Arvind Kumar, the HMDA said that there was no question of withdrawing the notice.

In a statement, the HMDA strongly objected to manner in which particular officers were being named by the MP, unfairly casting aspersions on them and assigning political motives to them.

It said that the HMDA worked under the guidance and directions of the State government, and that its officers and departments worked under the overall superintendence and directions of the Council of Ministers and the State government. It added reiterated that the bid process of the ORR TOT was carried out in a transparent manner, duly following all the laid down norms of the NHAI. It clarified that the TOT bid for 30 years was in accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers, and that two bids of the NHAI had been finalized for periods of 30 years, and that it was not the first time that a TOT bid had been done for 30 years.

The HMDA reiterated that all officers involved in the bid process had carried out their job transparently and in a neutral manner, and in accordance with State government orders and within the framework of their conduct rules. It said that the legal notice was issued to the MP to withdraw all his allegations including some which were meant to demoralize the officers who were merely carrying out their job judiciously and transparently.

Commenting on the reply to an RTI query filed by Reddy, the HMDA clarified that the reply was submitted to him within the prescribed timelines, and that there was no withholding of any information regarding the ORR TOT bid process.