IMD: Sexual harassment case, commercial spin

Last month, when a sexual harassment case alleging rape was registered against the head of the India Meteorological Department IMD, Direct...

Last month, when a sexual harassment case alleging rape was registered against the head of the India Meteorological Department IMD, Director General S K Srivastava, Union Minister Kapil Sibal said it was a 8216;8216;personal matter8217;8217; and it had little to do with the department8217;s functioning. Now there8217;s evidence to show otherwise.

According to official records and court documents, the woman complainant8217;s name figures as a director on the board of Metsis Solutions Limited, a company registered in Singapore, that supplies IMD with equipment.

Her colleague on the board is another director, Sahib Kaur, who is the mother of J S Arya, former Deputy Director General Administration and Stores for seven years in IMD. His office played a key role in all procurement and purchase of equipment. IMD8217;s Rs 80-crore annual purchase budget is used to procure internationally manufactured technical equipment through local vendors like Metsis.

Srivastava, when contacted, declined to comment on the issue.

The complainant claims she is 8216;8216;unaware8217;8217; of this and has not 8216;8216;signed8217;8217; any papers. 8216;8216;My client was not aware that she is one of the directors of this company nor has she derived any benefits out of it,8217;8217; said Shafiullah, her lawyer.

Metsis was registered in February 2003 and its business is to supply WorldSpace receivers and associated software to IMD.

WorldSpace is a US-based satellite communications company known for its radio sets that use small antennae8212;as distinct from large satellite dishes8212;to disseminate IMD data worldwide. Metsis is one of the five companies that WorldSpace has branded as 8216;8216;authorised vendors.8217;8217; Nearly 65 WorldSpace receivers have already been procured by IMD via these companies.

Another vendor is Actech Information Systems which shares two directors with Metsis: Rajiv Tyagi and Rakesh Verma. Incidentally, Actech has been working with IMD for nearly five years now, supplying equipment manufactured abroad. Since the two directors were unavailable for comment, the technical director for Actech S Raina confirmed that they have had a 8216;8216;long relationship8217;8217; with IMD. 8216;8216;We are a systems integration company and have been supplying specialised equipment like weather sensors and radiation measurement equipment to IMD. But now we also deal with other agencies like the defence services.8217;8217;

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Police allege that Srivastava tried to use his 8216;8216;influence8217;8217; to erase records of phone conversations with Tyagi and Sharma.

8216;8216;These companies were referred to us by IMD saying that they have been dealing with them for a long time. Since this project has just begun, we did not bother with the details of these companies,8217;8217; said Pawan Gandhi, Business Development head of WorldSpace in Delhi.