At least 10 politicians affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have been appointed as independent directors on the board of top public sector firms.
Among those who feature in the list of directors appointed by NDA last week, are BJP’s Delhi unit Vice President Shazia Ilmi, Gujarat IT cell convenor Rajika Kacheria; minority face of the BJP in Gujarat Asifa Khan; former BJP MLA candidate from Odisha Surama Padhy and former Bihar MLC Kiran Ghai Sinha, reports Indian Express.
These politicians have found themselves on the boards of Navaratna PSUs that include Engineers India Ltd (EIL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and the National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO).
While Ilmi, a former journalist has been appointed an independent director at Engineers India Ltd, Kacheria, a cosmetologist by profession, has been named the head of Cotton Corporation of India Ltd.
Also, while Kiran Ghai Sinha has been listed as an independent director of the National Aluminium Company, Asifa Khan will be on the board of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
Former BJP MLA candidate from Odisha Surama Padhy has been given a position on the board of Bharat Heavy Electricals; and BJP’s Karnataka unit secretary Bharathi Magdum will serve on the state trading board.
Earlier, the United Progressive Alliance administration had also faced widespread criticism for appointing Congress loyalists to the boards of PSUs.
In 2014, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had made amendments to Clause 49 of the listing agreement for all companies, stipulating that a board should have at least 50 per cent of directors as non-executive or independent directors with at least one woman director.
