UIDAI gave undue favour of Rs 4.92 crore to Wipro: CAG

New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which manages Aadhaar, granted undue favour to IT services major Wipro in a maintenance contract to the tune of Rs 4.92 crore, a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report on Tuesday said.

"Unique Identification Authority of India in contravention of the provisions of the contract extended undue favour to the vendor (Wipro Limited) and incurred an avoidable expenditure of Rs 4.92 crore on annual maintenance contract of the equipment for a period covered under warranty/free maintenance," the CAG said in a report tabled in Parliament.

It said the UIDAI agreed (in March 2013) with the vendor for annual maintenance contract (AMC) of these equipment at a total cost of Rs 4.92 crore for the period from February 2013 to January 2014 and an agreement was signed between UIDAI and Wipro at later date on June 1, 2013.

"Thus deviation from the original contract terms and entering into a fresh AMC retrospectively by UIDAI resulted in avoidable expenditure of Rs 4.92 crore on AMC of the equipment for a period which was to be covered under warranty or free maintenance," the report said.

According to the 'General Conditions of Contract' the vendor was responsible for erection and installation of the goods and services at the destination sites and for making them fully operational, subject to an acceptance test (AT) based on the prescribed norms, it said.

The report added: "The Unique Identification Authority of India did not route its advertisements through the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity in accordance with the advertisement policy of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. This led to loss of Rs 1.41 crore as the eligible discount was not availed."