The blueprint for public-private partnership in building metro rail systems has got embroiled into an ugly spat with the administrative Urban Development Ministry seeking a reversal of its approval by the Committee on Infrastructure.In a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office, the ministry complained that the model concession agreement for PPP projects in Urban Transit Systems was approved by the CoI on June 26 “despite clear request from the ministry to defer the agenda item” as the Urban Development Secretary was “out of station”.“As such the decisions taken in the meeting on this subject without the representation and proper consideration of the views of the ministry, which is the line ministry, would need to be reconsidered in the next meeting,” it told the PM’s Principal Secretary with representation to the Planning Commission.Through a letter on June 21, the ministry had said that the MCA issue be deferred also because the draft was “not ripe for approval for want of legal opinion on the safety certification sought by the Civil Aviation Ministry”.Moreover, clarifications from the Planning Commission on a host of issues were still pending, it said. “Important issues are yet to be addressed even for the MCA for state projects and it may not be desirable to adopt any short cuts and act in violation of PMO and Cabinet Secretariat instructions on the matter,” says the July 18 letter.The ministry has also claimed that the Planning Commission was not authorised to handle the passage of the MCA and was only to provide its draft, as instructed through a November 2006 letter. “Further action namely, approval of the competent authority and circulation etc was to be taken by this ministry,” it wrote.Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, had chaired the Empowered Sub-Committee of the CoI which approved the MCA.In the same breath, the ministry has pointed out to the PMO that minutes of the June 26 meeting do not reflect the refusal by Finance Ministry to allow copyright of the MCA to Gajendra Haldea, Principal Adviser to the Deputy Chairman.At the meeting, the Department of Economic Affairs had said that “treating the draft as the copyright of an individual was not proper and against government instructions” as it had been developed using government resources and officials. “This, however, has not been incorporated in the minutes,” says the ministry.
