tamilnadu governor barnala bats for son

Barnala Bats for Son
Surjit Singh Barnala faces charge of getting son's firm university contracts

Lakshmi Subramanian Edition: August 29, 2011


Governor Surjit Singh BarnalaSurjit Singh Barnala has been embroiled in a conflict of interest controversy roughly two months after his scheduled term as Tamil Nadu governor ended. Awaiting a new nominee who will succeed him, Barnala is alleged to have influenced universities and colleges in the state to procure surveillance cameras and examination automation software between 2006 and 2010 from his son Jasjit Singh Barnala's company Barnas International. As governor, Barnala is chancellor of all state universities.

Barnas International's office in Chennai was raided by Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) officials on July 26. DVAC sources said they have secured evidence of the governor's office favouring Jasjit's firm on the supply of products to universities and colleges across the state.

India Today has copies of the documents. They clearly state that 40 per cent of Barnas's earnings is from supplying cameras and examination automation software to universities and colleges. Though 133 companies, from hospitals to hotels and retail outlets to garment showrooms, figure on the firm's client list, more than 40 per cent of its clients are colleges and state universities, including seven schools, 25 private colleges, nine state universities and 16 departments of Anna University.


Jasjit Singh BarnalaBarnas is the sole distributor of products from Hong Kong-based audio-visual company TeleEye. Jasjit is the chairman and managing director (CMD) of the company. Barnala aide M. Najimudeen is its director.

"This is a clear case of conflict of interest and of the chancellor's office bending the university system. Because of its close proximity to the chancellor, Barnas has ensured that all state universities buy cameras and automation software from it," says S. Krishnaswamy, the convenor of the Tamil Nadu Federation of Universities' Faculty Associations.


The Barnas office in ChennaiThe equipment sold by Barnas to the educational institutions was priced low to avoid the tender process. The Tamil Nadu Tender Transparency Act, 1998, gives heads of university departments the authority to directly purchase a product if it is below Rs 5 lakh without floating a tender. Recorded minutes of a meeting held by the Madurai Kamaraj University Syndicate on September 24, 2009, accessed by India Today, state that Barnas was entrusted with automation work of the examination process at a cost of Rs 4.95 lakh. Every product sold to universities by the firm is priced below Rs 5 lakh.

"There is no centralised body in state universities to make bulk purchases. This paves the way for such irregularities," says a former technical adviser for World Bank Projects for the Tamil Nadu government.

Dr R. Radhakrishnan, the former vice-chancellor of Anna University in Coimbatore, who was suspended on charges of corruption, claims he was pressurised by Barnala's office to purchase the cameras and software: "I was suspended only because I did not bow to the chancellor's office."

Raj Bhavan sources claim that the governor has been deliberately pulled into this controversy because the J. Jayalalithaa-led government does not want him to continue-his tenure ended on June 19. Jayalalithaa's political rival, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi, and Barnala are known to be close. "The governor has every right to continue in office till the Union Government nominates another person," says a Raj Bhavan official.

Jasjit floated his company in 2006 in Chandigarh with a share capital of Rs 8 lakh, according to records with the Registrar of Companies. In 2010, its reserves went up to Rs 50.47 lakh.

N. Shivaji Rao, Vice-President, Operations, Barnas International, says the firm always goes through the tender process and supplies products only if it is awarded the tender. "We have not used any influence anywhere to supply our products. Ours are quality products," he says. "Universities and colleges comprise just 20 per cent of our clientele. There is no conflict of interest. We have been dragged into such controversies only because our CMD's father is the governor," he adds. The documents tell a different story, especially on Barnas's claim that it always chooses the tender route and that colleges and universities constitute only 20 per cent of its clientele.

Replying to a query filed under the Right to Information Act on Barnas's transactions with various universities, Barnala's Deputy Secretary K. Vivekanandan said, "None of the information required by you is available with this office."