The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has filed a complaint against a Hyderabad-based firm, alleging that the company submitted 199 forged test reports to it in connection with the supplies for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Mk1A programme.
The first information report (FIR) was registered against TEC Aero Devices following a complaint by HAL's Aircraft Division Deputy General Manager Ranu Gupta on June 2 at the Hal police station in Bengaluru.
TEC Aero Devices' Chief Executive Officer (CEO) M Sivarama Prasad has been named the accused, with the police registering a cheating and forgery complaint against the firm.
In the complaint, Gupta said an order of 18 purchases was issued by the HAL from March 28, 2022, for supplying components related to the LCA-83 Mk-1A project. After submitting samples, test reports and other documents, the company received approval certificates for manufacturing 35 categories of parts, and it was required to submit the original test reports during bulk supplies.
The TEC Aero Devices submitted 199 of these test reports.
Later, the Quality Control Department of the HAL sought original reports relating to tensile strength, hardness, break load, shear, NDT, microstructure and salt spray tests, but TEC Aero Devices failed to produce them.
As per the complaint, the HAL received an apology letter from TEC Aero Devices on November 22, 2023, which admitted that it had submitted two incorrect reports in the name of Hyderabad-based Axis Inspection Solutions. Following this, an audit was conducted by HAL at the Axis Inspection Solutions on November 29, 2023, to verify the authenticity of test reports submitted by the TEC Aero Devices earlier.
During the audit, the HAL found that all 199 reports submitted by the Hyderabad-based company between February and September 2023 were forged. It also found that the reports were not issued by the Axis Inspection Solutions.
"Axis Inspection Solutions informed HAL that its name and signatures had been misused to create and submit fake reports," the FIR stated.
After this, HAL barred TEC Aero Devices from doing business with the company for three years, until March 10, 2027. It also stated that no financial payment had been made to TEC Aero Devices by the Aircraft Division up to that date.
Talking about LCA Mk1, it is India's first indigenously designed and developed supersonic multi-role fighter aircraft, which has been developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and manufactured by the HAL for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
The Mk1, designed to replace the MiG-21s, is a lightweight, single-engine, fourth-generation fighter capable of air-to-air combat, ground attack, and maritime strike missions.
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