The Centre has decided to form a core group of serving officers to assess India's fight against graft as part of a mandatory obligation under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), after failed attempts to select an agency for the exercise.
Replying to an RTI query on the status of UNCAC study, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said it was decided to carry out the exercise in-house by forming a core group of serving officers in different ministries or departments to make expert contributions in an honorary capacity.
"The DoPT, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of External Affairs and the Department of Revenue, were decided to be actively involved in the said exercise," the reply said.
It was also decided to appoint a full time consultant for six months to provide secretarial assistance to the department in the preparatory work, the DoPT said in reply to the RTI query filed by PTI.
UNCAC, which acts as a universal legal instrument to globally deal with the menace of corruption, was ratified by India on May 9, 2011.
India is slated for a review in the ongoing fiscal 2013- 14 by government experts from two other member countries who are signatories to UNCAC.
DoPT had in May 2012 floated a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the holding of a self-evaluation study by independent experts on India's compliance with UNCAC.
However, in October 2012, it had decided to "close" the proposal for holding of the study for want of a minimum of three qualifying applicants. DoPT had again in January last year decided to conduct the study and had issued a fresh RFP for the same.
But the second attempt, too, drew no takers who fulfilled the eligibility criteria mentioned in the RFP. DoPT thereafter again cancelled the proposal.
