Handling of sccession issues at BSNL, MTNL under fire

Communications minister Kapil Sibal has miffed by the telecom department's handling of the leadership succession planning exercise at Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam.

In an internal note to telecom secretary MF Farooqui, Sibal has questioned why DoT recommended BSNL director -consumer mobility Anupam Shrivastava, and MTNL director - finance PK Purwar, as future successors to BSNL chairman & managing director RK Upadhyay and MTNL chairman & managing director AK Garg, respectively, without considering three-year extensions for both incumbents based on "a mandatory performance appraisal by an external expert group".

"These officers (read: Upadhyay and Garg) cannot be denied evaluation by an external expert group merely due to DoT's failure to take timely action. I fail to understand why this exercise was not undertaken.

Unnecessary embarrassment and inordinate delay may happen in case any one of them prefers to go for legal remedy, a scenario which BSNL and MTNL can ill-afford at this critical juncture," said Sibal in a confidential note to Farooqui seen by ET. So much so, the minister has asked DoT to put CMD succession plans on hold at both telecom PSUs till Upadhyay and Garg have been appraised by an external expert group and the findings reported to him by March 15.

"The performance evaluation by an external group must be completed by March 15, and the outcome, whatever may be, telecom department," said Sibal in his letter to Farooqui.

Upadhyay had assumed charge at BSNL on April 30, 2011, and his three-year tenure ends on April 30 this year. Garg, who became MTNL chairman in early December 2011, concludes his three-year term on December 4, 2014. Para 1.1, of the terms & conditions of their appointment rules, states that "appointment will be for three years in the first instance or till the date of (their) superannuation, (but) it can be extended by another three years based on performance evaluation by an external expert group".

Sibal's diktat counters a recent memo from DoT joint secretary V Umashankar calling for expeditious appointment of successors to Upadhyay and Garg. "Appointment of successors to the present CMDs of BSNL and MTNL is at an advanced stage and may be continued. Any tenure extension process for Upadhyay and Garg undertaken at this late stage may invite adverse comment," said Umashankar.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/telecom-news/item/4364-handling-of-sccession-issues-at-bsnl,-mtnl-under-fire.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/telecom-news/item/4364-handling-of-sccession-issues-at-bsnl,-mtnl-under-fire.html