The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had overruled the advice of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to initiate penal action against a chief general manager-level officer and issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) clearing the officials eligibility for the post of member (PPP) and member (Technical) in the body,which are joint secretary-level posts. It has also issued NOCs to two other officers,who had earlier faced chief vigilance officer and CVC enquiries,to be allowed to apply for the above mentioned posts. The officers in question are MP Sharma,RK Singh and DO Tawde. All three had vigilance cases against them,which were cleared,and all three have applied for both member-level posts to be filled at NHAI and are currently posted as chief general managers in the highways authority. NHAI chairman RP Singh,when contacted,refused to comment on the issue. I will not talk on the issue at a time when the selection process is on, he said. A case against Sharma was filed on the basis of a complaint received in the road transport ministry and the CVC advised to initiate a minor penalty in the matter. But the CVCs view was overruled by NHAI chairman and was communicated to the CVC. In the case of RK Singh,the CVC had advised NHAI to take appropriate action against him in the matter of a project. However,based on recommendations the case against him was closed and the vigilance commission was informed. The third officer in question,Tawde,was warned in the case of execution of a project recommended by the CVO of NHAI. These officers from the Central Engineering Services (Roads) are among the seven,who have applied for the member-level posts to be filled in NHAI. Of the seven applications,four of them are working with the road transport ministry. Apart from the seven,23 others have also applied for the posts. The road transport ministry has also asked the views of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on giving cadre clearance to Sharma. DoPTs views were sought after a doubt arose on whether an officer,who has already remained on deputation for more than 6 years,be granted cadre clearance for applying to a board level post of Member in NHAI. Notably,maximum permissible tenure of deputation is 5 years,But Sharma was allowed to continue beyond 5 years after a special relaxation up to October 2012 was granted by the DoPT. It has also sought views that will the officer have to resign from his post to join as Member,in case of his selection.
