The Hindu Business Line : CVC moots integrity pact in Govt tenders

The Revenue Secretary, Mr K. M. Chandrasekhar (centre), watches as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Mr P. Shankar, and the Vigilance Commissioner, Mr Janki Ballabh, chat after the inaugural session of a workshop in Hyderabad on Wednesday. — Mohammed Yousuf

Hyderabad , June 15

THE Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has advised all Government Departments to adopt the transparent system of `integrity pact' while floating tenders for major purchases and projects.

The Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Mr P. Shankar, said that the new system mandates both the seller and buyer to enter into a pact pledging to strictly abide by the rules and regulations of the tender and ensure integrity.

Both the parties would agree for appointment of a third party that acts like an ombudsman to monitor the deal.

The ombudsman would be conferred with all the powers to cancel the tender awarded to the party and even impose rigorous penalty if the party concerned violates the `integrity pact' by resorting to unethical means, Mr Shankar said.

He was in town to inaugurate a two-day workshop on `Procedural Improvements in Indirect Taxes' organised by Lok Satta in association with the CVC and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

Speaking to newspersons later, Mr Shankar said that the Defence Ministry has already agreed to adopt the system of `integrity pact' in all its contracts worth over Rs 300 crore.

Stating that ONGC has also conveyed its willingness to adopt the system, he said that the CVC was in the process of persuading all other Departments to implement the new system.

The CVC would begin the exercise of ensuring adoption of `integrity pact' among various Departments by initially persuading key Departments such as oil and power to effectively address the problem of collusive corruption, Mr Shankar said. Acknowledging that punitive vigilance has its own systemic limitations, Mr Shankar favoured combating the `flaws' in the system, which are considered the root cause and breeding ground for corruption.

As a part of this, the CVC has asked all Departments in the Central Government's purview to publicise tenders on their respective Web sites.

These Departments should also allow online submission of tenders.

Further, the Central Government Departments have been asked to announce the results of the tenders on Web sites.

Stating that most of the Central Government Departments have started adopting the system of announcing tenders online, Mr Shankar favoured announcing the reasons for awarding the tenders in favour of a particular party and reasons for rejecting the tenders of others for the cause of greater transparency.

According to the Union Revenue Secretary, Mr K.M. Chandrasekhar, the Central revenue collections witnessed annual growth rate of over 25 per cent during the last 2-3 years.

He stressed the need to build a self-sustaining system that could minimise the scope for intrusion and harassment by Government officials towards ensuring greater compliance.

Stating that a National Data Centre was being put in place for indirect taxes, he said that it would involve networking of 70 locations across the country and integration of commercial intelligence bureaus with the help of IT.

The Revenue Department was also initiating steps to ensure improvement of revenue collection systems even in the area of direct taxes, Mr Chandrasekhar said.

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