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Journalism of Courage
CHENNAI, January 13: The Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) board of directors has disqualified the Essar group nominated director V Jeyachandran as he had “substantial interests in a financial services firm” against the Reserve Bank of India norms, a senior bank official said on Tuesday.
The board reportedly decided this in its meeting on Saturday in which neither Jeyachandran nor his alternate director T Shanmugam were present. The board has “advised Jeyachandran of this decision” the senior TMB official said.
The presence on the board of Jeyachandran and another Essar nominee V Gopal Rao has also been challenged on another count, for not having acquired 500 shares within two months of being elected to the board as stipulated by the bank’s Articles of Association and legal norms, said bank sources.
However the TMB official said the matter was sub judice and as such Jeyachandran was disqualified only because of his holding conflicting interests. “If he were to reduce his stake in the finance firm his name could once more be considered for appointment as director,” he added.
On the 13-member board, there are currently three vacancies. While RBI has nominated three members, including the chairman, the tenure of two members would end soon. There are two independent’ members apart from three Essar nominees’ which included Jeyachandran.
With last year’s AGM, the 74th, having been postponed, much would depend on the next annual meeting. A top TMB source said it was very likely that the AGM would be held in the first fortnight of February, where the two directorships will be decided apart from the results for 1996-97.
Predictably, the Nadar Mahajana Bank Share Investor Forum, headed by B Ramachandra Adityan claimed victory.
