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Subject public-private partnership contracts to scrutiny: official

Special Correspondent

Asks public institutions to shift their focus from input to outcome and output

CHENNAI: All large public-private partnership contracts should be available for public scrutiny before they are signed, T.V. Somanathan, Secretary, Department of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, said on Saturday.

Delivering the third S. Guhan Memorial Lecture, organised by the Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG) here, on Saturday, he made a "modest suggestion" that public institutions shift their focus from input to outcome and output. His other suggestions included that anti-corruption departments move away from questioning individual decisions and subjecting themselves to examination.

The official, however, cautioned that too much of accountability for procedure might lead to little accountability in terms of service rendered. "It curbs initiative and reduces quantity and quality of services rendered."

Conceding that the public sector was poor in delivery of services, Mr. Somanathan said public-private ventures would yield results if partners were well selected and contracts well negotiated. Since service standards were clearly defined in the contracts, it was easy for the stakeholders to demand enforcement of the assured standards.

But, public-private partnership involved some new risks. The high cost of services was an important aspect. Also, the private partner, while enjoying full access to government records, might withhold details not covered by the Right to Information Act. Unless "substantially financed" by the Government, private firms could not be brought under the purview of the Act, which did not define what constituted "substantial" financing.

Calling for a change in the culture of obsessive secrecy in the government, he said the Act was a big step in the right direction. "But it is not as big as the non-governmental organisations think it to be."

Describing Section 13(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act as "draconian," Mr. Somanathan said it should have no place in a democratic society. "Honest officials, not the corrupt, are rendered vulnerable to prosecution even if there is no mens rea (guilty mind)."

Earlier, Tara Murali, Managing Trustee of the CAG, paid tributes to the CAG founder-trustee, S. Guhan, whom she said was a renaissance man and India's academic icon for several scholars. He had profound knowledge of and interests in several fields such as Sangam literature, dance and music, besides concern for issues such as the Cauvery dispute, reservation and corruption in politics.

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