The Centre has asked the Delhi government to withdraw its recent nomination of “four private individuals” to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) board of directors and instead appoint government officials with domain expertise, as has been the case so far.
Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot had on July 13 nominated Aam Aadmi Party leaders Atishi and Raghav Chadha, vice-chairperson of the Delhi Dialogue and Development Commission Jasmine Shah; and Naveen Gupta, son of Rajya Sabha MP and AAP treasurer N.D. Gupta, as the Delhi government’s nominees to the board.
Five members each
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) wrote to the Delhi government on Tuesday asking it to “withdraw” the nomination of the private individuals. Of the 13 directors on the board of the DMRC, which is owned by the Union and Delhi governments 50-50, the Centre and State nominate 5 members each.
In his letter to Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, MoHUA Additional Secretary K. Sanjay Murthy said the DMRC was required to adopt Department of Public Enterprises guidelines “to strengthen corporate governance”.
Mr. Murthy wrote that DPE guidelines issued on March 16, 1992, said that directors should be “officers dealing with the enterprise concerned or handling the issues of the sector”, which is why the Centre’s nominees were the MoHUA Secretary and Additional Secretary; Delhi Development Authority vice-chairperson; National Capital Region Planning Board Member Secretary; and Railway Board Additional Member.
Similarly, he added, the Delhi government’s nominees had been the Chief Secretary, the Finance Secretary, the Transport Secretary, a former Finance Secretary and the DMRC managing director. He added that all metro rail companies in the country had nominated officials associated with infrastructure, finance and urban development. “This is to ensure that individuals conversant with functional, financial and managerial aspects are represented on the Board and contribute to effective decision-making... It is pertinent to mention that government nominee directors bring not only domain knowledge and expertise, but are also accountable... for ensuring time-bound implementation of the project,” he wrote.
‘Advise to top official’
He then “advised” the Chief Secretary that the Delhi government should “withdraw the nominations” in question and “nominate, as earlier, such officials of the State government who deal with the subject and have domain knowledge, expertise and accountability to drive the DMRC into a world-class transport service provider”.
An AAP government source said the NDA government had nominated BJP leader and former Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana as the chairperson of the Board in 2003.