Security breach in printing of bank notes: Govt yet to take action

NEW DELHI: An internal inquiry report by a former CBI director recently indicted top officials of the Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), a government company, for lapses that led to bank notes using an imported security thread with Arabic inscriptions in 2012 in its Hoshangabad-based mill.

The security thread is the key distinguishing feature in a currency note that helps prevent counterfeiting.

Now, the matter has also come under the scanner of the Delhi high court which earlier this month admitted a PIL and issued a notice to the Centre, SPMCIL and its director M S Rana. The PIL also questions Rana’s eligibility for the position of CMD, claiming he was appointed without the requisite clearance from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The court has issued a notice to CVC, seeking answers to the allegations.

Rana has been blamed in the inquiry report for suppressing the incident at Hoshangabad and not putting the facts on record. “Such a grave incident having implications on national security should have been brought on record and handled with greater sensitivity,” the report by IPS officer P C Sharma says, referring to the role of the CMD and the corporate office of the company.

It was only when a local newspaper in Madhya Pradesh brought out the facts that the then UPA government hurriedly ordered an inquiry, fourteen months later.

When the inquiry report admitted loopholes in quality control measures at SPMCIL and termed the incident a “serious breach of security,” an alarmed government roped in the former CBI director in August last year to conduct a full-fledged investigation.

The initial inquiry said that the government could have faced a major embarrassment for circulating bank notes with Arabic security threads. The government may have to explain its stand on the matter before Delhi HC in March, the next date of hearing on the PIL filed by one Ramakant Dixit. Dixit says the government mint, which has a monopoly on printing currency, should be cleaned up.

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Source:Timesofindia