The Karnataka government will set up a commission headed by a retired judge to clear tenders for every public project worth Rs 50 crore and above, PTI reported on Wednesday.
The decision came nine days after a Belagavi-based contractor, Santosh Patil, died by suicide in the state’s Udupi district. In a WhatsApp message purportedly sent to his friends before killing himself, Patil had alleged that former state minister KS Eshwarappa had demanded a commission to clear a bill for work that he had done for the rural development and Panchayati Raj Department.
Eshwarappa denied any involvement in the matter, but resigned as a minister on April 14.
On Wednesday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that a retired High Court judge will head the commission that will look into tenders, and that the panel will also comprise a financial expert and a technical expert.
The panel will be set up under the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act.
The commission will check whether estimates for carrying out projects have been prepared according to the government’s Schedule of Rates, and also whether the conditions for selecting a contractor under provisions of the Act have been met, The Hindu reported.
The panel will have to clear each tender within 15 days.
“Irregularities in the execution of any work start with preparing the estimation and finalising the tender conditions,” Bommai said. “Sometimes, the conditions are set to suit select people.”
The chief minister added that he has told officials from the departments of urban development and rural development and Panchayati Raj not to take up any project based on oral instructions.
“If anybody does work on oral orders, the engineers and officers concerned will be held responsible.,” he said, according to The Hindu. “In the case of rural local bodies, Panchayat Development Officers and Executive Officers of taluk panchayats will be responsible.”
Bommai added that an investigation into Patil’s death is going on both at the level of the police and that of the rural development department.
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