New Delhi, Aug 17: The Union human resources development (HRD) ministry is likely to frame charges against IIT Bhubaneswar director Madhusudan Chakraborty for allegedly being involved in violating norms while buying equipment worth Rs 2.5 crore last year.

The ministry’s vigilance wing is likely to frame the charges this month on the basis of lapses found by the CBI in buying equipment.

The investigating agency had conducted a surprise raid at the institute on November 10, 2010, after receiving a tip-off that the institute authorities had bought equipment from a single source while bypassing the tender-based bidding process. It submitted a report about its findings to the HRD ministry in June.

The institute had bought items such as continuous surface wave system used for soil testing, ground penetrating radar sensor, shake tables used for seismic research, pile testing equipment, non-destructing testing equipment, material testing equipment and cyclic triaxial testing machine. All these were purchased from a single agent — M/s AIMIL — without following the tender process, the CBI has said in its report.

“The CBI has found irregularities in the buying of equipment. Certain complaints have been lodged before the Central Vigilance Commission on the issue. The ministry is likely to frame charges against him (the IIT Bhubaneswar director) for departmental action,” a source said.

According to the General Financial Rules (GFR) of the government of India, an institute has to advertise an open tender in newspapers for procuring an item worth more than Rs 25 lakh. For items costing up to Rs 25 lakh, a limited tender enquiry method is adopted.

If it is a proprietary article — an item manufactured by a particular firm — the institute can buy it from a single source without following the tender procedure.

Senior faculty members of the IIT — S.C. Dutta, D. Pasla, S. Haldar and P. Bhunian — had finalised the list of equipment to be bought.

They had recommended that for buying proprietary items, the institute would have to get a certificate from the principal company that the equipment is a proprietary item.

After scrutinising the documents, the CBI found that no open or limited tender was invited for buying the items. The institute described all these items as proprietary and so, tendering was not required.

The CBI did not find proprietary article certificates for these equipment. There was no approval from the director for sending the tender enquiry to the supplier.

The IIT has been in the news of late for the wrong reasons. The Telegraph had first reported irregularities in appointing faculty.