Under the scanner for alleged bungling to the tune of several crores of rupees, the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee is now mired in litigation with several firms and its former employees seeking their dues.
Officials said that the OC was facing 14 cases in Delhi High Court and district courts in New Delhi. While some have gone to court to seek pending payments, other cases filed include a defamation suit seeking Rs 5 crore in damages.
The cases are related to the finance department, work force, catering, merchandising unit, cleaning and waste management units, technology department and other works connected with organising of the games in October last year.
"There have been legal notices from private firms and former employees and they are in different stages of proceedings. In all there are some 14 cases," OC Chief Executive Officer Jarnail Singh said.
The Games organising body has taken the services of law firms Dua Associates, Suri & Co and Luthra & Luthra to help it in fighting the legal battles.
Ex-treasurer M Jayachandran, who is lodged in Tihar jail, has slapped a Rs 5 crore defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against the OC for allegedly tarnishing his image, the official said.
Jayachandran is an accused in the Timing-Scoring-Result scam that has allegedly caused a loss of over Rs 95 crore to the exchequer. The Central Bureau of Investigation has accused him of manipulating the minutes of OC's finance committee to justify the alleged forgery in the award of TSR contract.
Similarly, OC's former chief of technology department Rajesh Kumar has moved the Delhi high court for alleged harassment by the management among other charges. Two companies -- Unique Infoways and Bite and Byte -- have also gone to the high court seeking dues from the OC.
"There are companies who have gone to court seeking pending payments. All of them were denied payments by OC as they did not work properly," the CEO said.
OC officials denied the charges levelled by the companies and individuals and termed the litigations as "frivolous".
"Our legal department is studying all the documents and the lawyers appear for the hearings as and when they come. Almost all the cases will fall flat in the courts since they do not have any merit. They are all frivolous and based on false claims," an official with OC's legal cell claimed.
Officials are scrutinising documents related to contracts executed by the OC and plan to strengthen their legal team to effectively deal with such cases.
"We are empowering our legal department. There is a need for strengthening it. We will fight all legal cases," Singh said.
Sacked OC Chief Suresh Kalmadi and Secretary General Lalit Bhanot are in Tihar jail for their alleged involvement in the Commonwealth Games scams.
