Facing the heat over alleged corruption in awarding government tenders, the Karnataka government has constituted a high-level committee to scrutinise all tenders of Rs 50 crore and above.The move came following the death under suspicious circumstances of Santhosh Patil, a civil contractor. Patil had accused former state minister K.S. Eshwarappa of demanding a commission in return for releasing his pending bills.The committee will be headed by a retired high court judge and comprise an economic expert and a technical expert from the concerned departments.Addressing a media conference in Shivamogga on Wednesday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said, "The committee has been constituted under the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act (KTPP) Act.
The tenders would be awarded only after the committee scrutinises the estimates, pre-conditions and other aspects. The panel will start functioning within the next few days. If the number of tenders is too many, a parallel committee would be constituted to ensure speedy processing of the tenders."The concerned officials have been instructed not to award any work on oral orders, Bommai said.Following Patil's death, the state contractors' association had alleged that corruption is rampant in the BJP government and threatened to stop all work for a month.The opposition parties have also targeted the ruling BJP and the Prime Minister on the issue of corruption in the state.
Replying to a question about the percentage culture in the government, Bommai said, "It is very important to control this. But the Santhosh Patil suicide case was different. Here bills were claimed after executing work on oral orders. So a thorough investigation is on in the matter. The two issues cannot be equated."Responding to the alleged irregularities in awarding tenders of below Rs 50 crore at the district level, the Chief Minister said, "After assessing the functioning of the high-level committee, we will constitute committees at the district level too if necessary, because development works should not get bogged down."