The Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE) has raised serious concerns over the Construction Industries Development Authority (CIDA) in light of allegations of employee harassment, exorbitant legal expenses, and questionable procurement practices, questioning the agency’s accountability in the use of public funds.
At a recent COPE session, it was revealed that CIDA had spent Rs. 15 million on legal fees related to a court case filed against one of its own employees, who was allegedly targeted on personal grounds.
It was further uncovered that a single lawyer was paid Rs. 600,000 per trial date, a figure COPE members described as excessive and unjustifiable.
Despite the employee being reinstated by court order, CIDA has appealed the verdict, leading to further expenditure from state coffers.
COPE members questioned the rationale behind pursuing costly legal action rather than resolving internal disputes through administrative channels.
In another revelation, CIDA is also under fire for planning to spend Rs. 5.9 million on a roof renovation project at its headquarters.
However, the Authority failed to verify the contractor’s quotation through proper internal evaluation, violating basic procurement procedures.
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