The UPA government?s policy paralysis has not only disrupted key reforms, but also brought several projects of the country?s prized public sector enterprises to a virtual standstill. Delays in appointment of chief executives of a host of state-run companies ? considered the best bet to maintain the growth momentum amid a slowdown in the economy ? is a cause for concern for the government.
As many as three dozen PSEs, including Navratna and Mini-Ratna PSUs such as Coal India, NHPC, RITES and SJVN, have been without a chief executive for a long time now. Alarmingly, in some cases, the delay has extended from a few months to years.
?This is not a good trend as such delays slow down work in companies. A person holding an additional charge of a chief executive is never able to push through projects the way a full-term chief executive can,? said a chief executive of a leading PSU, asking not to be named. ?There is always a fear of witch-hunt and a vigilance probe, assigning wrong reasons for decisions taken by a person holding an additional charge,? he added.
According to government data, 31 posts of chief executives were lying vacant in central PSEs as on November end. Apart from the large ones, the list also includes companies such as central Cottage Industries Corporation, Central Electronics, Chennai Petroleum Corporation, Dredging Corporation of India, Hindustan Aeronautics, Hindustan Antibiotics, Hotel Corporation of India, Indian Railway Finance Corporation, National Fertilizer, MECON, NEPA and Telecommunications Consultants India. Together, the companies without a full-time head are undertaking projects worth several thousand crores of rupees.
?The problem becomes acute when clear directions are required for strategising companies to tide over the current uncertain economic climate. The government should put up a time-bound appointment schedule so that these problems can be avoided,? said a department of public enterprises official.
In case of CIL, which got the coveted Maharatna tag this year, the appointment of a full-time chairman and managing director (CMD) has been pending for close to a year now. The term of NC Jha, who holds the additional charge of CMD, has been extended twice and is likely to be extended again till his retirement by January end.
CIL plans to invest over R40,000 crore over the next five years to augment the country?s coal production, which assumes importance in the wake of the crisis faced in the power sector.
While the company is sure to go ahead with its expansion plans, insiders say that the delay in appointing a full-time chief executive has already delayed projects. Similarly, NHPC, SJVN and National Fertiliser are also facing project delays, though officials refuse to attribute them to the appointment issue.
Of the 31 posts that remain vacant, the recommendations of the Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) are already available in respect of 12 posts and are awaiting the approval of the Appointments Committee. PESB recommendations are awaited for 14 posts. For the remaining five posts, the approval of the competent authority is available, but the appointee is yet to join.
The proposals for the appointment of the board-level executives in CPSEs are approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by the Prime Minister. Often, politics takes precedence, with the administrative ministry in charge of a PSE delaying approval of candidates who are not in the good books of the ministers.
To overcome this problem, department of public enterprises (DPE) had proposed a time-bound clearance of appointments under which any delay of more than a month by the administrative ministry would automatically result in the ACC taking up the names finalised by the PESB.
The DPE had also suggested that the appointment of chief executives be finalised six months before the retirement of the incumbent chief. However, the proposals are yet to see the light of day.
