Govt justifies PSU executive postings

NEW DELHI, JAN 19: Government today defended Delhi High Court's appointment of some top executives of certain public sector undertakings (PS...

NEW DELHI, JAN 19: Government today defended Delhi High Court’s appointment of some top executives of certain public sector undertakings (PSUs) without the approval of public enterprise selection board (PESB), saying the postings were made under “special circumstances”.

Filing an affidavit on behalf of N Venugopalan, under-secretary, department of personnel and training, senior standing counsel, A K Vali submitted before a division bench that in special cases such appointments could be made from the organised services under the central government.

The bench, comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice M K Sharma, directed the petitioner, B L Wadhera, a senior lawyer, who had challenged the appointment through a Public Interest Litigation, to file a rejoinder by March 16.

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The petitioner had challenged appointment of 10 top executives of various PSUs, including Indian Airlines, Air India, Food Corporation of India, Rural Electrification Croporation and Power Finance Corporation.

The government affidavit said “because of special circumstances, it is necessary to place a member of an organised service in public sector enterprise or where the nature of the enterprise is in poor health and it will be difficult to attract good professional managers on tenure basis from outside.”

The government said the appointment of P C Sen, (IAS) as Managing Director of Indian Airlines, was initially made on deputation basis for a period of three years in March 1994, by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC), which had taken into consideration the need for granting exemption from PESB procedure and rule of immediate absorption.

“The then state of industrial relations and financial status of Indian Airlines were such that it was not realistic to expect persons of high calibre and good prospects to offer themselves for the post,” the affidavit said.

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It said during the preceding five years seven chief executives were appointed in the airlines of which four were selected by PESB, who left after serving for short duration.

“In such circumstances, it was, therefore considered necessary to dispense with PESB procedure,” it said. The appointment of Uddesh Kohli as CMD of Power Finance Corporation (PFC) was cleared by the Prime Minister himself in similar circumstances on the recommendation of a “search committee” which had gone into various aspects including “professional competence and proven managerial ability of the incumbent with a flair for development of banking sector.”

The affidavit said the MDs of remaining PSUs including Air India, FCI, Rural Electrification Corporation and India Trade Promotion Organisation, whose appointments were challenged by the petitioner, have since demitted their office.