New Delhi, July 17 - Close on the heels of the Delhi Metro accident that killed six people, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Friday pulled up the capital's mass transit system for poor quality management in construction and not completing work within deadlines.

'Audit analysis of quality control indicated scaling down of testing requirements, non-witnessing of tests by the company's representative, testing of materials (used in construction) in non-accredited laboratories and non-preservation of test reports,' the CAG said in its findings.

The performance audit report on the Delhi Mass Rapid Transport System pertains to 2006-07 - the first phase of the Delhi Metro project.

'Testing requirements were scaled down in four contracts as these contracts were falling behind schedule,' the report said, adding that in one contract, 1,105 piles casts were not tested for 'routine lateral load taking' capacity.

The report said that in eight contracts the test conducted by the contractors was accepted without being witnessed by the company's (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) representatives. 'The management's reply that the tests were witnessed by the company's representative is not correct as some of the reports did not bear the signature of the company's representatives.'

Highlighting the responsibility of DMRC, the CAG said: 'It was observed that test reports (of those carried) were not preserved. The management stated that it was not possible to keep records of all the tests conducted, as there were millions of tests and once quality was certified... it was not necessary to keep the records of all these tests which would involve additional expenditure.'

'The reply is not tenable because if any instance of failure occurs at a later stage, then the quality certificate of the engineer cannot be reviewed in the absence of test reports,' the CAG report underlined.