Key posts in PSUs lie vacant as ministries want say

The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB), along with the secretary of the administrative ministry, holds interviews months before the vacancy and recommends two probable for each post. After vigilance clearance, the ministry picks one name for approval by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) comprising the Home Minister and the Prime Minister. However, the ministries have refused to accept the PESB recommendation, calling for a fresh panel — a trend started by Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in the selection of directors in Steel Authority of India Ltd.

For example, in PowerGrid, the first panel of names for Director (Operations) was rejected in February 2007 by the ACC on the advice of Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. Interviews were again held last May for Director (Operations) as well as Director (HR), but Shinde wants both panels scrapped, as frontrunners Asthana and Gulati are not his choice.

In the case of NHPC Director (Finance), Shinde showed his might. He approved Srivastava’s name but later withdrew it saying he wanted an insider. Then again, he sent Srivastava’s name and got him appointed on February 11, more than a year after the post fell vacant.

In BHEL, Heavy Industries Minister Sontosh Mohan Dev is trying to replicate Shinde. Ever since Choudhury was selected on November 23, efforts are on by Dev to avoid it and induct present Director (Power) K Ravi Kumar as Chairman of the Committee of Directors for six months, by which time his favourites would become eligible.

As for NEEPCO, while the first candidate has been refused vigilance clearance on charges of corruption, Shinde does not want runner up V K Abbey from NHPC as he is not from the northeast. Additional charge has been given to Director (Technical) J Barkotoky.

The result of such power play by political bosses in running so-called autonomous navratna or miniratna companies as their personal fiefdom, is internal squabbles and pandering, thereby affecting the PSUs’ functioning. One such outcome is the tardy progress in power sector. At a review meeting on January 18, the PM was informed that addition of power generation would suffer a setback due to delay in equipment supply by BHEL. Likewise, setting up of transmission lines to evacuate power from new generating units was behind schedule due to delays by PowerGrid, he was told.

Though a new policy has been outlined to push hydel power in northeast and Himalayan states, there are not enough bankable detailed project reports to lure private developers, the PM was told. India’s hydro generating potential is estimated at 1.5 lakh MW of which only 34,000 MW has been developed so far.