SC notice to Centre on plea against BJP spokesperson's appointment as ONGC director

The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Centre on a plea challenging the appointment of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as an independent director of the public sector major ONGC.

A bench of Justices A K Sikri and Justice Ashok Bhushan sought the response of the central government to a petition filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan on behalf of NGO Energy Watchdog.

The petitioner challenged the Delhi High Court's judgement of November 6, 2017, dismissing the plea.

Patra's appointment was challenged on the ground that he was not 'independent' at all- ONGC being a central government undertaking and Patra being the national spokesperson of the ruling party and this cannot be said 'not related' to the government-run PSU as is the requirement under Section 149(2) of the Companies Act, 2013.

Among others, it was contended he did not fulfil the eligibility criteria in place for the appointment to the post of independent director since his name did not appear in the data bank maintained by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) as mandated under Section 150 of Companies Act.

"That the post is a highly paying one (Rs 23-27 lakhs plus per year) and that state largess must not be passed on to such ineligible persons only because they are close to the government," the petitioner contended.