Centre asks Delhi govt to withdraw its non-bureaucrat nominees to DMRC board

The Centre Wednesday objected to the nomination of AAP leaders Raghav Chadha and Atishi and two others to the DMRC board of directors and asked the Delhi government to withdraw its non-bureaucrat nominees citing official guidelines. According to the guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises, officials handling the issue concerned should be appointed as government nominee directors.

In a letter to Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Additional Secretary K Sanjay Murthy said state officials concerned bring domain knowledge, expertise and accountability to drive Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) into a world-class transport provider. Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot has nominated four government representatives, including Chadha and Atishi, to be appointed to the DMRC board of directors.

Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC) vice chairman Jasmine Shah and AAP's Rajya Sabha MP ND Gupta's son Naveen Gupta are the two other persons nominated by Gahlot. This is for the first that non-bureaucrats have been nominated by the government for the DMRC's Board.

In the letter, Murthy said that as per approvals of the metro projects issued by the Centre, DMRC is required to adopt guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) to strengthen the corporate governance. The DMRC board comprises 17 members, including five members each from the Centre and the Delhi government.

"As per DPE guidelines on composition of Board of Directors issued vide OM no. 18(6)91-GM dated 16th March, 1992, officers dealing with the concerned enterprise or handling the issues of the sector should be nominated as government nominee directors," he said. He also said that a convention has been established for all metro rail companies that officers closely involved with the implementation of metro rail projects are nominated by the Centre and respective state governments on the board of metro companies.

"It is pertinent to mention that government nominee directors bring not only domain knowledge and expertise but are also accountable to various tasks of the company for ensuring time bound implementation of the project," he also said. He said that it is advised that in the interest of development of DMRC, the Delhi government should withdraw the nominations of government nominee directors who are not government servants and nominate such officials who deal with the subject and "bring domain knowledge, expertise and accountability to drive DMRC into a world-class transport service provider."

The Delhi government has not appointed its chief secretary, as well as finance and transport secretaries to the DMRC board. DMRC Chief Mangu Singh and Ramesh Chandra, former finance secretary, are presently serving as Delhi government nominees on the board.

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