NEW DELHI: All tenders to be approved by the railway minister or railway board would be examined by the E Sreedharan panel , which was set up to suggest ways to infuse transparency in the functioning of the transport behemoth.

The panel has asked railways to submit the details of all tenders under finalization or at the invitation stage, which are to be cleared by the minister or board.

The move is aimed at studying the existing tendering process so that the one-man committee can suggest ways to streamline procurement and tendering process as part of the government’s push for reforming the transporter.

The move has created panic among a section of officials as they fear probe if the panel found any aberration or abuse of official position to favour a particular company or individual.

A senior official in the railways board secretariat said, “Most of the departments have submitted the details.”

In recent past, investigative agencies found cases of “tailor-made” specifications in the tendering process to favour a private company, he said. Irregularities in booking of wagons and coaches due to opaque procedures have also come to light.

Soon after taking over, railway minister Suresh Prabhu asked former Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) chief E Sreedharan to advise on ways to infuse transparency in systems and procedures.

He was asked to suggest "proper system and procedure to ensure proper accountability and transparency" at the level of General Manager (GM) and other functionaries for taking all commercial decisions.

The panel was appointed amid indication of massive reforms being worked out in the railways to attract private and foreign investment for the mega projects and infuse transparency and openness after Prabhu took over. There was a realization that widespread corruption and manipulation had discouraged private players to invest in rail infrastructure.

Prabhu had indicated that decisions on tender have to be taken at the level of GMs of railway zones. Helping railways put in place systems for delegation of such responsibilities to GMs is one of the terms of reference of the newly-formed committee.