Mamata Banerjee's foreign nemesis: a Rs 4.5 cr lawsuit

Mamata Banerjee’s distaste for ‘anything’ foreign has landed the Union Ministry of Railways in an expensive spot of trouble. The Railways is being forced to cough up nearly Rs 4.5 crore as ‘penalty’ to a Paris-based Institute, HEC, which had been training senior Railways officers since 2006. Lalu Prasad Yadav, when he was the Railways Minister, had signed this agreement with the HEC. According to the agreement, HEC was to impart training to senior Railways executives to “develop global-minded and intellectually-refreshed managers who will be genuine drivers of change both in the division and at the corporate level.” When it was launched it was a two-week training module held once a year. Following the phenomenal success of the Railways, the contract with the HEC was renewed and training was imparted to three groups of Railway officers in a year. [caption id=“attachment_141920” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The Railways is being forced to cough up nearly Rs 4.5 crore as ‘penalty’ to a Paris-based Institute, HEC, which had been training senior Railways officers since 2006. AFP”] [/caption] Later in 2009, when Mamata Banerjee took over as the Railways Minister in the UPA II government, she put all the programmes initiated by Lalu Prasad Yadav on hold, including this training programme with the HEC. For the Railways’ babus, the ‘penalty’ amount is not exceptionally big. But the fear that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will attribute this sheer wastage of money to Mamata Banerjee has made them extremely anxious. Last week, they sought an opinion from the Ministry of Law whether to pay the penalty or fight the Paris-based institute in a court of law. The Railways Ministry is still with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) with Dinesh Trivedi, her trusted lieutenant at the helm of affairs. What makes matters worse is that the Railways Ministry had agreed to a ‘clause’ that in case of any dispute, a court in Paris would adjudicate the matter. Therefore if the Railways decides to fight the case, lawyers will end up incurring a substantial cost travelling to Paris. HEC has already served a legal notice to the Railways to pay Rs 4.5 crore as penalty or face legal action in a Paris court. The agreement signed between the Ministry and HEC is categorical on this issue: “Should the Ministry of Railways cancel the present contract less than 90 clear days before the start of module, HEC will invoice for 50 percent of the training services scheduled for the concerned year. In addition, the Ministry of Railways undertakes, whatever the date of contract cancellation might be, to reimburse HEC for the full amount of expenses incurred by the latter…’’ Mamata Banerjee’s office had approved ‘dates’ for a two-week training module for the senior Railway officers to be held in Paris in October 2009. But at the last moment, Mamata put the training on hold and refused to send the Railways delegation. According to sources, the concerned Railway officers presented the Paris training file for her signature several times, but she apparently returned the file without her signature. As the CAG is due to conduct its annual auditing of the Railways, Mamata definitely finds herself in an uncomfortable position. Sources in the Railways say that Dinesh Trivedi may decide to fight the legal battle against the HEC in Paris, but it seems like he will only delay ’the inevitable’ by doing so.