Ramachandran panel to probe Vizhinjam pact
Even the tenure of the proposed green field port at Colachel has been fixed at 30 years.
Thiruvananthapuram: Cabinet on Wednesday constituted a three member judicial commission headed by retired high court judge Justice C N Ramachandran Nair in the wake of the report of Comptroller and Auditor General which stated that the conditions in the concession agreement were detrimental to the interests of the state and to the advantage of Adani Ports and SEZ Private Ltd.
The other members of the Judicial Commission are former IAS officer K Mohandass and former Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA and AS) officer T J Mathew. At the Cabinet briefing, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the concerns expressed by various quarters about the irregularities in Vizhinjam port agreement and the findings of CAG were discussed at the meeting.
The chief minister said the judicial panel constituted under the Commissions of Enquiries Act has been asked to submit the report within six months. The terms of reference of the commission will be finalised later.
The CAG report on May 23 had rapped the state government in connection with Vizhinjam seaport agreement, pointing out that the agreement was against the state’s interests and accused the government of giving excessive benefits to Adani Group.
The chief minister said the CAG report pointed out that had the government stuck to its earlier condition of extending the term of project to 10 years, it would have secured an additional income of Rs 61095 crore (current value Rs 353 crore). The CAG said the state government’s reply was factually incorrect. It had taken into account the state government's income share.
Pinarayi said the CAG stated that government had not denied the fact that on spending Rs 14,651 crore the Concessionaire would get 400 per cent additional income. Another issue was about the tenure of the project. Under PPP model the maximum tenure for concessionaire is 30 years. Even the tenure of the proposed green field port at Colachel has been fixed at 30 years.
Under these circumstances the state government reply cannot be accepted. Apart from concession term of 40 years the promoters had also demanded maximum financial assistance, the CAG reported had pointed out. Pinarayi said all these issues would be examined by the judicial commission.
Earlier,Administrative Reforms Commission Chairman V.S. Achuthanandan, former KPCC president V M Sudheeran had demanded detailed probe into the findings of CAG.