A tug of war has begun between the Centre and Delhi Government over the members nominated by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) board of Directors. Delhi Transport Minister Kailsh Gahlot on Thursday replied to the Centre and said that Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry and DMRC have been caught in their own web.
“Delhi and Central Government are 50:50 partners in DMRC. Therefore, one partner has no right to suggest/dictate the other partner who should be nominated as its board members. Delhi Government has made nominations taking in account their background and after being convinced that they shall be able to protect the interests of the people of Delhi as well as the interests of Delhi Government,” said Gahlot in a letter written to the Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
The Delhi Government has nominated AAP leader Atishi, Raghav Chhaddha, AAP MP Naveen Gupta’s son ND Gupta and Delhi Dialogue Development Corproation (DDC) Vice Chairperson Jasmine Shah as representative from the State Government for DMRC Board.
While opposing and calling it as against the rules and regulations, the Centre on Wednesday asked Delhi Government to withdraw the nominees from the AAP as directors of DMRC board. Further citing the guidelines of Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) urged the Government to nominate bureaucrats of Delhi Government.
However, Transport Minister Gahlot wrote a letter to the HUA ministry saying “Central Government’s letter relies upon the guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises i.e issued vide OM No. 18(6)/91-GM dated 16th March, 1992. A perusal of these guidelines shows that these guidelines, in fact, say quite the opposite of what Central Government wants us to do. While as per the guidelines of the DPE vide DPE OM. No. 2(19)/99-GM dated 25.01.2000 instructed all Government Departments to bring down the number of Government Directors on Board of Directors of PSUs to two,” he said.
The DMRC board of directors comprise of 17 members, out of which, presently there are six directors who are Government officers (5 Central Government nominees and the MD who is a Delhi Government Nominee).
“This is much more than what has been prescribed by Central Government
guidelines. Therefore, nomination of four Non-Government officials by Delhi Government is in accordance with the Central Government guidelines,” said Gahlot in his reply to the HUA.
These guidelines clearly state at para 2(B) (iii) that number of Government directors shall in no case exceed two. In fact, these guidelines strongly recommend that non-Government officials should be nominated as Board Members. The induction of Non-Official Directors on the Boards of PSEs has been considered essential by various Committees and commissions in order to make the Boards more professional, he said.
“Centre has nominated private individuals on the Boards of various PSEs such as Shazia Ilmi and Sambit Patra, both political persons. They are directors on the Board of Engineers India Limited (EIL) and ONGC respectively. What domain expertise do these individuals have?, Former CM Madan Lal Khurana was appointed as a Director and Chairman of DMRC by the previous NDA Government. What domain expertise did he had? In sharp contrast, two of our nominees are Chartered Accountants & one of them is an Engineer from IIT(M),” said Gahlot in his letter.
“During the Metro fare hike issue, it was observed that the officers of Delhi Government are much junior to the HUA Secretary, who is Central Government nominee and chairs the DMRC Board. Therefore, Delhi Government officers are unable to speak freely and fearlessly before him”, Gahlot wrote.
