Re: [HumJanenge] "Who Else is the Beneficiary of CSD Liquor?"

Very interesting. I would like to add my own experience. Another
organsiation which makes full use of the Canteen Stores Department is
RAW. I am giving below an extract from my book INDIA'S EXTERNAL
INTELLIGENCE - SECRETS OF THE RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS WING (RAW). After
I wrote about this to the QMG and GOC Delhi Area, the URC in RAW was
orderd to be closed down. But it was later revived, with the efforts
of a few sycophantic service officers in RAW, who felt that career
progression (read foreign assignments) are more important.

Maj Gen VK Singh

EXTRACT

A few months after I joined, Major Ram Dass came to my office. He was
an ex-EME officer who was looking after the CRF (Centre Repair
Facility), which was responsible for providing vehicles to everyone in
the organisation. He wanted me to counter sign an application from RAW
for opening a CSD (Canteen Stores Department) canteen. As is well
known, the CSD caters for personnel of the armed forces, who are
exempted from paying sales tax on goods purchased by them through the
CSD. The application from RAW was based on the premise that it had a
large number of ex servicemen, who found it inconvenient to go to the
Station Canteen, which was quite far away. I asked Ram Dass why he was
not getting it signed by Major General PK Puri, the Chief Military
Intelligence Adviser, who was the senior Army officer present. Dass
told me that according to the rules, only a serving major general
could counter sign the application. Since General Puri had retired,
and was re-employed, he could not sign it. I counter signed the
application, without further ado.

After a few months, the canteen was inaugurated, with much fanfare. It
was the brainchild of Amar Bhushan, who had recently taken over as
Additional Secretary (Personnel). Circulars were issued and notices
regarding opening of the canteen were put up. However, I found that
instead of catering exclusively to ex-servicemen, the canteen was open
to all employees. In fact, very few ex-servicemen used the facility,
preferring to go to the canteen to which they were attached for
drawing their liquor quota. At he next Annual Conference, Amar
Bhushan, who had now assumed the appointment of Special Secretary
(Personnel), grandly announced the opening of the canteen, among the
various welfare measures that he had introduced after had taken over.
He was applauded warmly for this achievement, which had been tried
unsuccessfully several times earlier.

After a few months, Ram Dass came to me again, this time with an
application that the RAW canteen should be permitted to stock liquor
and also high value items such refrigerators, air conditioners, motor
cycles, motor cars etc. According to the prevalent rules,
ex-servicemen were attached either to the station canteen or another
major canteen close to their place of residence for purchase of
liquor. The quota was fixed, and the canteen was released only enough
liquor to meet the authorised quota of ex-servicemen who were attached
to it. As regards high value items, the procedure was that the person
who wished to purchase a particular item placed a firm demand, along
with a bank draft payable to the CSD, which then issued a release
order on the dealer. The item was collected directly from the dealer,
who was reimbursed by the CSD. Since sales tax on such items was
either exempted or substantially reduced, the cost paid by the
ex-serviceman was much lower than the market rate. Having seen the
manner in which the canteen was functioning, I was certain that the
facility would be misused. I refused to counter sign the application,
and Ram Dass went away crestfallen. I am not sure who finally counter
signed the application, but apparently the request was not granted.

In June 2004, shortly before I retired, a circular was issued giving
out the salient features of the Canteen Rules. There was to be
Governing Council, chaired by Amar Bhushan, whose designation was
shown as Special Secretary (Pers), RAW and Special Secretary (ARC).
There was also an Executive Council, which was headed by the Vice
Chairman, Niraj Srivastava, the Joint Secretary (Pers), who reported
to Amar Bhushan. The third tier comprised the Advisory Committee,
which had two representatives each from Groups A, B, C and D.
Surprisingly, there was not a single ex-serviceman in any of the three
committees. In fact, the word 'ex-serviceman' did not occur even once
in the seven-page circular.


This was not all. The circular clearly stated that the privilege of
purchasing goods from the canteen was available to all serving and
retired employees of RAW and ARC, and others who may be authorised by
the Executive Committee. According to the rules applicable to all
canteens, they are subject to a quarterly audit by a board of officers
from outside, ordered by the Station Headquarters. There was no such
audit being carried out in RAW. Similarly, the canteen profit is to be
utilized for welfare of officers and men, in the ratio of their
purchases from the canteen. According to the circular, 10% and 65 %
respectively would be transferred to the welfare funds of ARC and RAW,
with the remaining 25% being retained by the canteen fro development
and expansion.

It now became clear that RAW had resorted to a subterfuge by using the
ex-servicemen to get a canteen sanctioned for their own personnel who
were not entitled to such facilities. Since I had been partly
responsible for this, I felt I must inform the concerned authorities.
Accordingly, I wrote a DO letter to the Quarter Master General, Army
Headquarters, informing him of the anomalies in the canteen being run
by RAW. I wrote a similar DO letter to the GOC Delhi Area, who was
directly responsible for all canteens in his area, including
prevention of misuse and audit. I do not know if any action was taken
in the matter. With its penchant for getting around rules, I am sure
RAW would have found a way to continue the canteen.




On 20/05/2012, Col Thakur Singh <thakursinghk@gmail.com> wrote:
> *General Speaks Generally.....*
> *
> *
> *"Who Else is the Beneficiary of CSD Liquor?"*
> *
> *
> By Maj Gen Chander Nandwani (Veteran)
>
> Way back in 1995, I was posted as Additional Director General of Supplies &
> Transport in Army Headquarters. Apart from my routine responsibilities, I
> was also given additional charge of managing Army Headquarters (AHQ)
> canteen, as its Chairman. It wasn't much of a prized post, since a retired
> Colonel appointed as the Canteen Manager with around 50 to 60 civilian
> employees working under him, was essentially accountable, for the
> day-to-day functioning of the canteen.
>
> Soon after taking over the additional responsibility, I decided to pay a
> visit to the AHQ canteen during the lunch hour break to get a 'Feedback'
> from the employees with regard to their working conditions as also motivate
> them to provide better service to the customers. After patiently listening
> to their woes and giving 'on-the-spot' decisions to improve their working
> conditions, I made a remark that while being posted at Delhi on three
> earlier occasions, I had never patronized AHQ canteen, as more often than
> not, all the attractive consumer items including popular brands of liquor
> were seldom accessible to the customers. Therefore, my area of focus would
> be to strictly monitor the indenting and sale of such items. For this
> purpose, computers would be installed in the canteen and sale of liquor
> strictly regulated through issue of new cards after due verification of the
> cardholders. Further, the existing liquor cards in use would be
> discontinued straightaway and destroyed.
>
> The next day, all hell was let loose against me. Big posters were pasted at
> every nook and corner of Sena Bhawan and South Block, making serious
> allegations against me. Radhe Shyam (name changed), a labourer and the
> union leader of AHQ Canteen civilian employees, having three buses and two
> flats in Delhi, threatened that there would be 'Mass Joint Self Immolation'
> by all employees at Jantar Mantar on the Republic Day (due after 10 days or
> so), if Maj Gen Chander Nandwani was not immediately removed from the post
> of Chairman of the canteen. News items on similar lines were also published
> in the reputed national dailies. The allegations made against me included
> taking of a big bribe for purchase new computers, favouring purchase of
> specific liquor brands, coercing women employees for sexual favours and so
> on. I was particularly tickled by the allegation of sexual favours and
> cheekily informed my wife that surely my standing in this regard was now
> far better than what she had imagined during past several years of our
> married life!!!
>
> I was immediately summoned by the Quarter Master General (QMG), under whom
> the canteen functioned, and was asked to brief him on this sudden turn of
> events when everything was going on so smoothly before I took over the
> charge of the AHQ canteen. I requested for a couple of days time to make
> discreet enquiries. Before I could say 'Jack Robinson', there was a note
> from the MOD signed by a Director level officer asking the Chief of Army
> Staff (COAS) to comment on the allegations made against me and take all
> possible measures, including removing me from the post of Chairman, to
> avoid any embarrassment to the Govt., should the threat of 'Mass
> Self-Immolation' materialize, just prior to the Republic Day. What a joke!
> The matter did not end there. This note from MOD was followed by another
> note through which, a memorandum signed by 13 MPs and addressed to the
> Defence Minister, was also forwarded to the COAS, urging him to remove me
> from the post. This raised the hackles of the then COAS, late General BC
> Joshi. He called the QMG to his office and asked him to take the matter
> very seriously and put up a draft reply to both the notes of the MOD, for
> his approval. In the meanwhile an interim reply was sent to the MOD that
> the matter was being investigated.
>
> My preliminary investigations revealed that a perfect nexus existed between
> the canteen civilian staff union leader Radhe Shyam, a few officials of MOD
> and a large number of politicians, to whom liquor was being supplied from
> AHQ canteen, on a regular basis. Of course the demand increased manifold
> during the time of elections. What intrigued me the most was the 'modus
> operandi' of smuggling out of such large quantities of liquor, with the
> Military Police and several other security agencies working in the highly
> sensitive areas of Army Headquarters and MOD. The actuality came to light
> when a disgruntled ex civilian employee of the canteen spilled the beans to
> me on promise of strict anonymity. I was shaken out of my bones when the
> truth came to light and immediately ran to the office of QMG to give him
> the details. He dis-believed me and decided to get the facts verified
> through a field security agency of the army and learnt to his horror that
> what I had disclosed to him was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
> the truth.
>
> Well this is how the system worked. The union leader had in his custody
> hundreds of old liquor cards of servicemen and/or ex-servicemen who had
> either left the station or had died. He drew choicest brands of liquor from
> the canteen in the names of these personnel and had simultaneously
> perfected a distribution system through which the liquor was delivered
> right at the doorsteps of the selected MOD officials and several
> politicians apart from other influential clients in the ministry.
> Surprisingly, right next to the AHQ canteen was the parking lot of VIP
> staff cars and some of these staff car drivers had been bought over by
> Radhe Shyam by giving them free bottles of rum and other lucrative canteen
> items such as expensive watches etc. During the lunch break when security
> was lax, these drivers would reverse their cars next to the canteen bulk
> store, wherefrom crates of liquor were loaded into the dickey of these
> staff cars. Radhe Shyam instructed these drivers to deliver the liquor
> crates at various locations after dropping the VIPs at their respective
> residences. Wow what an ingenuous idea! The irony of the matter is that the
> staff cars with the flags & star plates of Generals, Admirals and Air
> Marshals (including the QMG), without the knowledge of the occupants, were
> being illegitimately used by unscrupulous individuals for their unholy
> deeds. Sadly these very senior officers had unknowingly become couriers of
> liquor for the politicians. No wonder there was such a sharp reaction from
> all quarters, when I had only hinted at introducing computers to check the
> sale of liquor from the AHQ canteen!
>
> The Chief on being informed of the facts of the case directed the QMG to
> give me full protection and total support to cleanse the system. I obtained
> legal advice from a leading civilian lawyer. He advised me to request for
> an enquiry against myself since I had taken over the post barely 10 days
> earlier and had nothing to hide. Thereafter, on my specific request on
> file, a court of inquiry was ordered by the QMG to investigate into the
> allegations made by Radhe Shyam, which were supported by the MOD and the
> MPs. The court of Inquiry proved these allegations to be false, baseless
> and malicious with the sole aim of having me removed from the post due to
> ulterior motives. To avoid several heads from rolling, the MOD and the MPs
> were politely told by the then COAS verbally that the matter had been
> thoroughly investigated by a high-powered court of Inquiry, which had
> opined that there was no truth in the allegations made by the union leader.
> Hence the matter was not being pursued further to save all concerned from
> grave embarrassment.
>
> On directions of the QMG, the services of the union leader were terminated
> under my signatures and the whole system revamped with the introduction of
> computers, thus bringing to an end the sordid drama of "The Canteen Liquor
> Connection of MOD!"**
> *
> *
> My only regret still remains that the allegation of my so-called sexual
> exploits with women employees was also quashed in the bargain, thus proving
> the obvious!!!
>
>
>
> --
> * *
> *
> *
> **
> **
> **
> **
> **
> **
> * *
> *
> *
> * *
> *
> *
> * *
> *
> *
> **
> **
> **
> **
> *
> Take time to laugh, for it is the music of the soul.
> HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY
> Have a Happy and Wonderful Day.
> == Subramanyam
> *
>
>
>
>
>
>
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