Corruption at DPS Housing Society Dwarka: Case 1

By definition and application, various anti-corruption and maintenance of financial transparency laws are applicable in different cases of corruption at DPS Housing Society.

By Rakesh Raman

Once upon a time, there was a timid pigeon. When he saw a hunting cat in front of him, he closed his eyes. The foolish pigeon thought that if he won’t see the cat, the cat will also not be able to see him.

But cat moved fast toward the pigeon, pounced on him, and finally devoured the bird before he could open his eyes.

This short story serves as a warning to those who have closed their eyes after committing the crimes. They think that they will not be caught if they turn a blind eye to the shackles. But the long arm of law will grab them by their neck sooner than later – exactly as it happened in the pigeon and cat story.

With this preamble, let us discuss the rampant corruption that is happening at DPS Cooperative Group Housing Society at Sector 4, Dwarka, New Delhi.

Although the corruption at the Society is visible even to closed eyes, the successive managing committees (MCs) and their supporters keep asking for proofs of corruption.

On their persistent demands, I have decided to unveil some of the DPS Housing Society corruption cases which they have been delibrately ignoring.

But before I begin, I would like to simplify the exposure process for them, as most of the MC members and their supporters are too naive to understand this subject.

Here we go:

1. By definition and application, various anti-corruption and maintenance of financial transparency laws are applicable in different cases of corruption at DPS Housing Society. These include the Prevention of Corruption Act, Indian Penal Code (IPC), and the Right to Service legislation which is aimed to reduce corruption and to increase transparency and accountability.

2. After a thorough inquiry, the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 and Disproportionate Assets (DA) laws may also apply in some cases. People who want to know more about their applicability in the DPS Housing Society case can easily read these laws on the web.

3. A new MC is equally responsible for the corrupt practices of the previous MCs if the new MC has accepted the financial irregularities of the previous MCs without any formal and transparent administrative and legal action against the previous MCs to recover the money lost in corruption. If the new MC has not taken any legal action against the erring previous MC, it shows its complicity in crime.

Suppose, for example, if a case of misappropriation of funds happened in 2006, all the subsequent MCs are responsible for it if they have not initiated any legal proceedings openly to recover the lost money in such a case.

Similarly, all the members of the committees that MC formed to get its shady proposals cleared are also responsible for the wrongdoings.

4. According to global anti-corruption organization Transparency International, corruption thrives on low level of transparency. And you can see there is no transparency in financial transactions at DPS Housing Society – so much so that the Society even flouts the government orders to maintain transparency.

5. DPS Housing Society MCs mislead the people by saying that its accounting books are in order. People who ask for corruption proofs do not understand that the accounting books of all corrupt organizations are always in order. The accounting plus-minus calculations will always be correct because you are simply subtracting the expenses from the income. Never trust the assertions about mere accounting books.

Actually, it amounts to corruption when the supporting documents are missing from the accounting books and transparent purchase procedures are not followed, which is the case at DPS Housing Society. To understand the accounting books fraud, you can study the Enron case, although there are hundreds of such fraud cases.

6. As the past and present MC members are extremely cunning, they have been asking me about proofs of corruption so that they could produce fake documents to cover up their acts of corruption. I have been giving them proofs in the past through government  / law-enforcement agencies. But they are not revealing about them to Society members.

I have also been formally asking the MC members about certain financial and other details related to transparency of operations, but they could never give me those details.

I will again provide the data and details that I have to the government-instituted inquiry committee. However, here I will explain some cases which will clearly establish the fact that corruption has been happening at the DPS Housing Society.

7. Although the wise people will understand from these cases that corruption has been happening at the DPS Housing Society, others who lack education and intellect will still ask about proofs of corruption.

8. You can clearly see from the multiple threats that I am receiving from the MCs of DPS Housing Society that this case is soon expected to go to the top law-enforcement agencies and/or the courts of India.

You are free to comment on this case through your emails, etc. as it has been happening for the past few days. However, you should be careful with your words, as these may be produced as an evidence in this case.

Here is the first case (read the document given below and other documents related to this case – which must be in your records. I will soon publish more information related to this particular case and more such cases).

All of you are familiar with this case. Those who are asking me to prove corruption allegations, should tell me:

1. Why is it not corruption if the MC is spending over Rs. 23 lakh (the cost finally went over Rs. 30 lakh) for a work that a vendor offers to do for just Rs. 4 lakh? If you think objectively, all the justifications given by the MC for this cost difference are totally meaningless.

2. And why is it not corruption, when suddenly a new vendor is hired without following the statutory guidelines for hiring a construction vendor to do a work worth lakhs of rupees?

3. And why is it not corruption, when the MC fails to provide the details such as the tendering process, comparative statement of proposals from different vendors, payment terms, project monitoring mechanism, quality assurance and acceptance of finished project?

All these details are required to be given statutorily to people like me whose money the MC has used. Even one member can ask for these details and the MC is supposed to provide these details clearly and publically, as the government has clearly stated this repeatedly.

4. Why is it not corruption when the money that the MC says it has spent on building repairs could not repair the building? And instead of repairing the building, it actually damaged it; you can easily see it even today.

5. You can open your own papers about this case and study them for yourself to know how our money was squandered ruthlessly by the MC – which is surprisingly again planning for massive building repairs. All of us must question the MC’s motives.

6. The different MCs have offered only one excuse for their corrupt practices that the majority of the members support their shady actions.

If this is the case, I request all members of the Society that you should stop supporting such acts because lack of transparency and corruption has already destroyed our country.

As a result, even after 70 years of its independence, India continues to be an underdeveloped country. This corruption is like slow poison which will destroy the current as well as future generations.

You have full right to differ with me, but believe me I am not against any particular person. I am against the corrupt system and have run multiple campaigns against corruption in the past.

Although I have limited time because of my social and professional responsibilities, I still want to contribute toward the improvement of systems in our Society.

In fact, last month I had even offered to one of the Society MC members in the Society office that I want to contribute my services for the Society without formally joining the MC or any committee so that we could together make better and transparent systems.

But do you know what I got in return? The MC filed a false police complaint against me so that I should not oppose the MC’s ongoing corrupt practices. I cannot stop them if the MC members – with support from other members – have decided to indulge in such criminal acts. But I assume that they are ready to face the consequences. I will not be scared by their threats and will soon publish more corruption cases with some details.

As I have said, I will provide the full details and data of corruption at DPS Housing Society to the independent inquiry committee, which is soon expected to be formed.

However, in order to avoid more hassles, the DPS Housing Society MC has the option to resign on or before April 30, 2017. It should take a lesson from the previous MC which could see the impending trouble and ran away without completing its term.

Let the government appoint an administrator to run the Society’s affairs and clean up the mess persisting in the Society.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a government’s National award-winning journalist and runs free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.