Integrity Pact

• 27 Jan 2022

For Prelims: Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), ‘Integrity Pact’, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

For Mains: Measures Taken to Tackle Corruption.

Why in News

Recently, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has modified the criteria for the nomination of Independent External Monitors (IEM) in government bodies.

• The modification came months after it had issued a revised standard operating procedure for adoption and implementation of the ‘Integrity Pact’ clause, which is meant to prevent corruption in public procurement.

Key Points

• Integrity Pact:
  • The ‘Integrity Pact’ envisages an agreement between the prospective vendors/bidders and the buyer, committing persons and officials of both sides to not resort to any corrupt practices in any aspect or stage of the contract.
  • Any violation of the clause entails the disqualification of bidders and exclusion from future business dealings.
  • The pact also ensures transparency, equity and competitiveness in public procurement.
• Independent External Monitors:
  • The IEMs independently and objectively review the documents to determine if the parties have complied with their obligations under the pact.
  • They give recommendations to the authorities concerned after examining the complaints related to any contract.
  • They may submit a report to the chief executive of the organisation concerned or directly to the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) and the CVC, if they find serious irregularities attracting the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 provisions.
• IEM Rules Modificiation: The zone of consideration for empanelment as IEMs has been revised. It now includes:
  • Officers who have held the post of Additional Secretary to the Government of India;
  • Those who were Chairman-cum-Managing Directors (CMD) of Schedule ‘A’ public sector enterprises.
  • Persons equivalent/higher to Additional Secretary to the Central government at the time of retirement.
  • CMDs/MDs and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of public sector banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions at the time of retirement;
  • Officers of the armed forces who were in a pay scale equivalent to or higher than that of Additional Secretary at the time of retirement, are also eligible.

Central Vigilance Commission

• CVC is the apex vigilance institution, free of control from any executive authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government and advising various authorities in Central Government organizations in planning, executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance work.
• It is an independent body and is only responsible to the Parliament.
• It was set up by the Government in February, 1964 on the recommendations of the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by K. Santhanam.
• The Parliament enacted Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003 (CVC Act) conferring statutory status on the CVC.

Source: TH