The Delhi High Court has directed the Defence Research and Development Organisation to expedite its inquiry into the complaints of a company working on the agency’s project at the Air Force Station in Bhuj in Gujarat.
The direction came last week while the court was hearing a petition filed by Hermes Group in March this year.
Hermes Group had been given anchoring work as part of the DRDO project, whose contract was awarded to Cube Construction Engineering Limited in 2020. It accused CCEL of substandard work, malpractices, and of exerting pressure when it raised concerns about safety during the execution of the project.
Malpractice allegations
Hermes Group claimed the work order was not issued by CCEL but by Dhairya Construction – a sister firm of the CCEL which is owned by CCEL MD Sanjay Chhotalal Shah’s brother Birju Chhotalal Shah. It claimed it was informed that Dhairya Construction had permission from the DRDO to issue this work order. Advocate Sumitra Choudhury, representing the petitioner, claimed, “The main contractor was Cube Construction. But when it comes to work, you can see another firm related to the brother of the MD of Cube Construction comes in. This is all very doubtful.”
Hermes Group also claimed that CCEL pressured them to proceed with unsafe anchoring work despite the discovery of underground water in certain areas.
It also accused Cube Construction and the project planning and design consultant, RD Konsultants, of violating DRDO’s procurement guidelines. The DRDO manual mandates bidders to disclose if the contractors are investigated by agencies such as the CBI, ED, or others.
It claimed RD Konsultants was reportedly probed by the CBI for alleged irregularities linked to the Indian Air Force’s Integrated Air Command and Control System project. Cube Construction was reportedly under scrutiny in an FIR filed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau in Jammu and Kashmir for alleged substandard work in a project under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. CCEL MD Shah was arrested by Gujarat's CID in 2023 for alleged cheating and corruption though he is currently out on bail.
The petition claimed that CCEL allegedly started exerting pressure on the petitioner by blocking access to the site when it raised safety concerns. By February 2024, Hermes Group was banned from the worksite, and their machinery was confined.
It also claimed that it had raised complaints with DRDO but the agency allegedly ignored them. On September 27, 2024, the petitioner formally complained to senior DRDO officials about the alleged substandard work at the Bhuj site and raised concerns over the CBI case against RD Konsultants and the investigation against Cube Construction. It claimed it filed multiple complaints.
Newslaundry reached out to DRDO, CCEL and RD Konsultants for comment. This copy will be updated if they respond.
Correction at 12.45 pm on April 7: An earlier version of the report had erroneously mentioned RD Konsultants as the CCEL project planning and design consultant. It has been corrected.
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