J-K Minister admits failure of PHE procurement policy

The Jammu and Kashmir Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham lal Sharma today admitted in Legislative Council that there has been no set procurement policy put in place in the Public Health Engineer (PHE) department since 1992.
"No system was in place for the procurement in PHE department since 1992 till 2013," Sharma said in reply to a question from Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) legislator Sayed Mohammad Rafiq Shah.
He assured that since he has taken over the charge of the Ministry he has evolved a system for the procurement in the PHE department.
Sharma, informed the House that all the codal procedures were followed during the procurement of coupling pipes by the department in the last three years.

On whether the quantity of pipes purchased was much higher than required, Shah said the procurement was made on the basis of the proper requisitions made by the territorial divisions and endorsed by the Superintending Engineers on schematic basis.