After members arrest,retired HC judge to be CLB chairman

In a move to bring the Company Law Board out of crisis after the arrest of R Vasudevan by the CBI on bribery charges,the government today announced...

In a move to bring the Company Law Board out of crisis after the arrest of R Vasudevan by the CBI on bribery charges,the government today announced the appointment of Dilip Raosaheb Deshmukeh,a retired Chattisgarh High Court Judge,as the chairperson of the quasi-judicial body. Deshmukh will take charge of the CLB on November 27.

He was supposed to join on December 1,but we have requested him to take over day after tomorrow given the situation. I am given to understand that he will fly in tomorrow and take over day after, corporate affairs minister Salman Khurshid told reporters. After the arrest of Vasudevan,the corporate sector in the country was in a precarious situation with just one member K Narhari,based in Chennai,to handle the cases. The CLB is mandated to have eight members and one chairperson. Four other members have been selected but their appointments are yet to be cleared by the Appointment Committee of Cabinet.

Vasudevan,who was Director Inspection and Investigation in the corporate affairs ministry and also looked into high-profile cases like Sesa Goa and the Satyam scam,was remanded in the police custody for six days by a Delhi High court for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 7 lakh from company secretary Manoj Banthia for passing a favorable judgement in case pertaining to a leading media organisation.

However,Khursheed ruled out relooking at the cases handled by Vasudevan as member CLB or DII. I dont think there is any reason to believe that whatever has been done investigations by him has been done inadequately. SFIO has done a very extensive investigation in Satyam. There are several levels of people have been involved in the investigation. I dont think for us there is immediately any cause of concern, he said.

CBI had on Monday night arrested Vasudevan from his residence in south Delhi for taking bribe and found Rs 55 lakh including the Rs 7 lakh bribe money from his house. Searches were conducted at seven locations in Delhi ,Chennai and Kolkata and incriminating documents were also seized and are being scrutinised by the investigating agency. The CBI registered cases against the company secretary,Vasudevan and other unknown persons.