Bring PPP under RTI, CIC tells Plan panel….Tanu Sharma
Central Information Commissioner Satyananda Mishra has written to the Planning Commission suggesting that all future contracts entered into by the government with a private firm under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement should be in the public domain and brought under the Right to Information Act.
At present, the Act doesnt refer to PPP contracts.
Saying that big-ticket infrastructure projects are mostly via the PPP route and involve substantial amount of money, Mishra has, in a recent letter addressed to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, suggested that at the stage of proposal, the PPP agreement should be published on the Ministry or departments website.
He urged the Plan panel to consider that a PPP entity should be deemed to be a public authority for the purpose of RTI Act.
A public authority, as defined under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act includes a non-governmental body only if it is substantially financed by the Central government. Mishra uses this argument to make his case saying that in all projects handed over to a PPP entity for building, operating or maintaining, the land, if not any other resources, given by the government forms a vital component of the project and to that extent, can by deemed to be substantial financing.
In his letter, Mishra says that the MInistries and departments concerned “do not come forward to provide information regarding these entities claiming these are private bodies which are outside the government’s control.
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Bring-PPP-under-RTI–CIC-tells-Plan-panel/757016/