In what bears out the Department of Telecommunications? lack of intent to implement the Sam Pitroda Committee report on state-run telecom major BSNL, the Telecom Commission on Wednesday decided to constitute an internal committee to review the committee?s recommendations.
The redundancy of such a move is evident as DoT secretary PJ Thomas who heads Telecom Commission was himself part of the three-member Pitroda committee.
In January, the Prime Minister had appointed the committee to look into ways to improve the steep decline in the health of BSNL. DoT secretary PJ Thomas and HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh were the other two members of the committee headed by Sam Pitroda, PM?s advisor on Infrastructure, Information and Innovation. The committee submitted its recommendations to the government in February.
The committee had made a set of 15 recommendations which included disinvestment of 30% to a strategic partner and splitting the post of the company?s chairman and managing director into one of a chairman and a managing director. If the proposal is implemented, the chairman would be the buffer between the managing director and any political pressure, while the managing director runs the company on a day-to-day basis.
Wednesday?s decision shows DoT?s lack of confidence in accepting the high-profile committee?s recommendations. According to a DoT statement, the committee headed by member-services will take inputs from BSNL including its Employees Association and submit its report on implementation of Pitroda Committee Report to the full Telecom Commission within a month.
As reported by FE on July 6, with less than a month left for incumbent BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal to retire, it is still not clear whether the new measures suggested by the special committee set up by the PM would be adopted while choosing the successor. BSNL earned Rs 36,000-crore revenues in 2008-09, while net profit shrank 81% to a dismal Rs 575 crore.