Eleven months after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) uncovered massive bungling, irregularities, and manipulation in the selection of "Firemen and Drivers" in the Fire and Emergency Services (F&ES) Department, the Jammu and Kashmir Government on Thursday ordered the blacklisting of M/s LMES IT LLP and private vendor Maharaj Krishan Wali from participating in any recruitment-related bidding processes in the Union Territory.
According to an order issued by the Commissioner/Secretary, General Administration Department (GAD), M. Raju, a committee was constituted to look into the allegations, and it submitted its report on February 10, 2024.
With the approval of the Competent Authority, the matter was subsequently referred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for investigation.
After verification, the ACB registered FIR No. 01/2025 at its Central Jammu Police Station against M/s LMES IT LLP and reviewed the role of M. K. Wali. The findings were later placed before a reconstituted committee formed by the government.
The ACB reported several violations by LMES IT LLP, including the fact that the firm, despite being L-2, was allotted the recruitment assignment by bypassing the L-1 bidder, in violation of norms. It also lacked the mandatory experience of conducting similar recruitment exercises in at least two state/UT police organisations or CPMFs, as required under the NIT. Additionally, the company used the financial documents of another firm—M/s Energy & Software (P) Ltd—for two of the three qualifying years, raising serious eligibility concerns. LMES quoted a negotiated rate of ₹179 per candidate, whereas the L-1 firm, M/s UMC Technology Pvt. Ltd, had quoted ₹107.50 per candidate.
The L-1 bidder was neither called for negotiations nor was its candidature formally accepted or rejected, the report said.
"Mr. M. K. Wali, who held a 99% share in LMES, had earlier been associated with Timing Technologies Pvt. Ltd (TTPL), whose recruitment process for the same posts in 2018 was cancelled by the government with directions to replace the TRP firm," the order noted.
The government concluded that M. K. Wali was "unduly facilitated" and given undue leverage by the Fire & Emergency Services Department.
Following the recommendations of the Home Department—vide communications dated June 27, 2025 and September 16, 2025—the Competent Authority approved the proposal for blacklisting.
"Now, therefore, sanction is hereby accorded to the blacklisting of M/s LMES IT LLP, Registered Office: 1st Floor, ICICI Bank Building, Talab Tillo, Jammu; Corporate Office: F-23, Greenwood City, Sector-46, Gurugram, Haryana; and Mr. Maharaj Krishan Wali, Private Vendor, from participating in any recruitment-related bids to be conducted by the Government of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir under Rule 151 of GFR, 2017," the order added.
Five siblings from Budgam were selected fraudulently
An Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) investigation into the recruitment process for firemen and drivers in Jammu and Kashmir's Fire and Emergency Services (F&ES) Department has uncovered extensive irregularities.
During the investigation, ACB sleuths detected that over 100 selected candidates had secured marks below the cutoff but were shown as selected through fraudulent means and falsified score entries.
Out of 690 selected candidates, 109 were found to have secured lower marks than the cutoff but were selected by showing inflated scores in the final list.
For instance, candidates who had actually secured 11, 17, and 24 marks were shown as having scored 90 marks each. Similarly, it was found that five real brothers from Budgam were selected, along with multiple other such instances, including the selection of relatives of F&ES officials and candidates from the same localities.
During the probe, the question papers were found to be beyond the comprehension level of candidates who had studied up to Class 8, which is the minimum qualification.
A manual review of the Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets vis-à-vis the answer keys revealed multiple discrepancies.
The matter was initially examined by the ACB, which found that in 2013, the Chairman of the Departmental Recruitment Board (DRB), Fire & Emergency Services, J&K, had issued Advertisement Notice No. 01 of 2013 dated 12-03-2013 for the posts of fireman/fireman drivers and other tradesmen.
Recruitment process was terminated after discrepancies
The examination was conducted by the DRB. However, in view of certain discrepancies in the selection process, the Government, vide Order No. 381-Home of 2016 dated 05.07.2016, terminated the entire recruitment process.
The recruitment was restarted in 2018 in accordance with the earlier 2013 advertisement notice, as per High Court directions, with no changes or modifications.
The government directed that the recruitment be conducted through a Transparent Recruitment Process (TRP) to be engaged through an open bidding system. Accordingly, e-NIT No. 01 of 2018 dated 05.04.2018 was issued by the Directorate of F&ES for engaging the TRP agency, under which Hyderabad-based M/s Timing Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. was selected to conduct the physical and written tests across J&K.
