BJP leadets appointed PSU directors
BJP leaders named as ‘independent’ directors in top PSUs
During the UPA regime, a number of public sector undertakings, notably a host of banks, came under the scanner for appointing as independent directors their party faithful. Earlier this week, appointments cleared by the NDA’s Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) include those of at least 10 politicians affiliated with the ruling BJP as independent directors on the boards of top public sector companies.
These include party’s Delhi unit vice president Shazia Ilmi; Gujarat IT cell convenor Rajika Kacheria; minority face of the BJP in Gujarat Asifa Khan; former BJP MLA candidate from Odisha Surama Padhy and former Bihar MLC Kiran Ghai Sinha.
They find themselves on the boards of Navaratna PSUs that include Engineers India Ltd (EIL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and the National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO).
In 2014, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had made amendments to Clause 49 of the listing agreement for all companies, stipulating that a board should have at least 50 per cent of directors as non-executive or independent directors with at least one woman director.
Ilmi, a mass communication postgraduate from Jamia Millia Islamia University, has been appointed as an independent director in Engineers India Ltd (EIL). Kacheria, a cosmetologist, has been appointed as independent director of the Cotton Corporation of India Ltd. Sinha, who has also served on the local board of the Reserve Bank in Bihar, has been appointed an independent director of NALCO.
Another prominent name who figures in the list of appointees is that of Asifa Khan, who will serve on the board of HPCL. A post-graduate in English literature, Khan is a teacher-turned-politician, who was groomed in politics by Congress leader Ahmed Patel but has now become a popular minority face for BJP. more