NHPC CMD Selection Challenged : Patna HC Advocate Sends Legal Notice
CMD Raj Kumar Chaudhary defends his appointment saying it has been cleared in due process by the PESB and approved by the ACC
www.indianpsu.com is in possession of the copy of the Legal Notice sent by a Patna-based advocate, Navendu Kumar, sent on behalf of his client, Karunesh Mishra, a resident of Muzaffarpur District of Bihar, to Secretary – Ministry of Personnel, Secretary – Ministry of Power, Secretary PESB, Secretary – DPE and present CMD, Raj Kumar Chaudhary, dated 04/10/202024, with copies to the Prime Minister Office and also to the Ministry of Power and NRE.
The notice demands “taking action against illegal appointment to the post of Chairman and Managing Director, NHPC Limited” and demands the removal of Raj Kumar Chaudhary from the top post.
The legal notice goes on to say – “That it would be apt to point out that through the letters dated 03.09.2021 issued under the signature of Executive Director (HR), NHPC Ltd., four candidates, who were in fray of selection/appointment to the post of Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), NHPC Ltd., were promoted to the post of Executive Director in the pay-scale of ₹150000-300000. Their names are Mr Vivek Ranjan Shrivastava, Mr Raj Kumar Chaudhary, Mr Uday Shankar Sahi and Mr Rajat Gupta. It can be seen that these four persons were not qualifying the eligibility criteria meant for the post of Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), NHPC Ltd. as per the advertisement number 77/2022 dated 17.06.2022 issued by the PESB as the date of vacancy and cut of date of the eligibility for this post was fixed as 01.09.2022 and the minimum length of service required in the eligible scale, i.e., ₹ 150000-300000 (IDA) Post 01.01.2017, was one year for internal candidates and two years for others as on the date of vacancy and on the date of vacancy, they had not completed minimum one year in the pay-scale of ₹150000-300000, which was the essential criteria for being considered for the post of Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), NHPC Ltd.”
www.indianpsu.com contacted CMD NHPC, Raj Kumar Chaudhary over email but he did not respond. However, during a telephonic conversation with us he said that the relaxation in terms and conditions, in this specific case was done in due process by the Public Sector Enterprises Board (PESB) and subsequently by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
He added that the advocate has misinterpreted Clause VI (4) of the advertisement issued in this regard and also said that as the copies of the legal notice have been sent to the Ministry of Power, Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and PESB etc, if would perhaps be better to seek a reply from these authorities in this regard.
