YEH MERA INDIA
Govt relaxes norms for hiring of relatives by directors
New Delhi: The government raised the monthly remuneration limit for hiring of relatives by directors without seeking prior approval of the centre, and increased the pay threshold for incorporating details of senior staff in the annual report of companies.
According to a Corporate Affairs Ministry notification, a company will not have to seek central government approval for hiring relatives of directors if monthly payment is below Rs 2,50,000. The earlier limit was Rs 50,000. Similarly, the government has increased the threshold annual remuneration for senior staff members from Rs 24 lakh to 60 lakh for incorporation in the annual report. Under the revised norms, companies will have to mention the details of only those senior employees who get Rs 60 lakh and above a year, or over Rs 5 lakh per month, in the Board’s report. Further, with regard to selection of such relatives of directors or managers of a listed company, the Ministry has maintained that it would be done by the Selection Committee. However, it has relaxed the same rule for unlisted and private companies.
When minister’s aide held shoes for him
Mumbai: State industries Minister Narayan Rane slipped into the shoes held by his aide, little realising that the gesture would invite flak.
Pravin Raut, a Class IV employee in the Minister’s office, held Rane’s shoes as the Congress leader was descending steps of the memorial of Shivaji Maharaj in Vidhan Bhavan after paying tributes to the Maratha king on his birth anniversary.
Raut held holding Rane’s shoes until the Minister’s feet slipped into them, much to the bewilderment of onlookers.
Shiv Sena was quick to take potshot at the Shiv Saink-turned Congressman. “Rane has gone Mayawati way,” a Sena leader quipped, referring to an incident last month when a personal security officer (PSO) of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had cleaned her dusty shoes with his handkerchief. And come to think of it, Rane also similar government employee before entering politics!
Retired-but can still be tried
Mumbai: In a significant move, the state government is planning to amend laws whereby retired bureaucrats could be charged for omissions and commissions committed by them while in service.
Making a statement in the Assembly, Minister of State for Urban development Bhaskar Jadhav said retired bureaucrats take advantage of loopholes in the laws and there is need to amend them.
“They feel that nothing would happen to them after retirement and at the most, they will lose their pension. However, the amount of pension is nothing compared to what they earned by committing irregularities while in services,” Jadhav said. He also told the assembly that the government was of the view that bureaucrats who resign from service should seek permission of the government before joining the private sector. Jadhav was replying to supplementaries during a calling attention notice regarding irregularities committed by former CIDCO vice-president and managing director G S Gill, which Leader of opposition Eknath Khadse said was to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore.
He said the irregularities pertained to allocation of land, change of land reservation, changing terms and conditions of accepted tenders. Khadse had demanded that bureaucrats should be barred from taking up jobs in private sector for at least five years after their voluntary retirement from government service.
The minister said two secretary-level committees were set up last year to probe decisions taken by Gill in the last six months before his retirement. The Secretary of Urban development found irregularities in 13 decisions taken by him, while the Finance Secretary found irregularities in eight of the total 23 decisions taken by the board of directors. Jadhav said accountability has been fixed on ten CIDCO officials and action was being taken. Similarly, the Urban Development Department has sought information from General Administration Department (GAD) to find out whether departmental inquiry can be initiated against Gill, who has now retired.
The minister assured that both reports which probed the irregularities in CIDCO would be tabled in the legislative assembly within eight days.
SC refuses to frame rules for protection of whistle-blowers
New Delhi: The Supreme Court refused to frame guidelines for protection of whistle-blowers in the country, saying that it cannot make law.
A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice S H Kapadia refused to entertain a PIL seeking framing of guidelines for giving statutory protection to whistle blowers in the wake of the gruesome killing of Maharashtra Additional Collector Yeshwant Sonawane allegedly by an oil mafia.
The PIL by advocates-N Raja Raman and Ajay Mandyal cited a number of recent incidents in which whistle blowers have been killed or intimidated by mafia and political leaders to silence their voice against growing corruption in the country.
But the court refused to pass any order, saying that it was not possible to keep monitoring cases across the country. It, however, allowed the petitioners to approach the high court for protection of whistle blowers in a specific case.
It also said that the court cannot ask the government to pass legislation in this regard.
The petitioners had urged the apex court to direct the Centre to frame a law to ensure that complaints of corruption are dealt with promptly and whistle blowers like RTI activists, journalists and advocates are given necessary protection.
New Delhi: The government raised the monthly remuneration limit for hiring of relatives by directors without seeking prior approval of the centre, and increased the pay threshold for incorporating details of senior staff in the annual report of companies.
According to a Corporate Affairs Ministry notification, a company will not have to seek central government approval for hiring relatives of directors if monthly payment is below Rs 2,50,000. The earlier limit was Rs 50,000. Similarly, the government has increased the threshold annual remuneration for senior staff members from Rs 24 lakh to 60 lakh for incorporation in the annual report. Under the revised norms, companies will have to mention the details of only those senior employees who get Rs 60 lakh and above a year, or over Rs 5 lakh per month, in the Board’s report. Further, with regard to selection of such relatives of directors or managers of a listed company, the Ministry has maintained that it would be done by the Selection Committee. However, it has relaxed the same rule for unlisted and private companies.
When minister’s aide held shoes for him
Mumbai: State industries Minister Narayan Rane slipped into the shoes held by his aide, little realising that the gesture would invite flak.
Pravin Raut, a Class IV employee in the Minister’s office, held Rane’s shoes as the Congress leader was descending steps of the memorial of Shivaji Maharaj in Vidhan Bhavan after paying tributes to the Maratha king on his birth anniversary.
Raut held holding Rane’s shoes until the Minister’s feet slipped into them, much to the bewilderment of onlookers.
Shiv Sena was quick to take potshot at the Shiv Saink-turned Congressman. “Rane has gone Mayawati way,” a Sena leader quipped, referring to an incident last month when a personal security officer (PSO) of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had cleaned her dusty shoes with his handkerchief. And come to think of it, Rane also similar government employee before entering politics!
Retired-but can still be tried
Mumbai: In a significant move, the state government is planning to amend laws whereby retired bureaucrats could be charged for omissions and commissions committed by them while in service.
Making a statement in the Assembly, Minister of State for Urban development Bhaskar Jadhav said retired bureaucrats take advantage of loopholes in the laws and there is need to amend them.
“They feel that nothing would happen to them after retirement and at the most, they will lose their pension. However, the amount of pension is nothing compared to what they earned by committing irregularities while in services,” Jadhav said. He also told the assembly that the government was of the view that bureaucrats who resign from service should seek permission of the government before joining the private sector. Jadhav was replying to supplementaries during a calling attention notice regarding irregularities committed by former CIDCO vice-president and managing director G S Gill, which Leader of opposition Eknath Khadse said was to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore.
He said the irregularities pertained to allocation of land, change of land reservation, changing terms and conditions of accepted tenders. Khadse had demanded that bureaucrats should be barred from taking up jobs in private sector for at least five years after their voluntary retirement from government service.
The minister said two secretary-level committees were set up last year to probe decisions taken by Gill in the last six months before his retirement. The Secretary of Urban development found irregularities in 13 decisions taken by him, while the Finance Secretary found irregularities in eight of the total 23 decisions taken by the board of directors. Jadhav said accountability has been fixed on ten CIDCO officials and action was being taken. Similarly, the Urban Development Department has sought information from General Administration Department (GAD) to find out whether departmental inquiry can be initiated against Gill, who has now retired.
The minister assured that both reports which probed the irregularities in CIDCO would be tabled in the legislative assembly within eight days.
SC refuses to frame rules for protection of whistle-blowers
New Delhi: The Supreme Court refused to frame guidelines for protection of whistle-blowers in the country, saying that it cannot make law.
A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice S H Kapadia refused to entertain a PIL seeking framing of guidelines for giving statutory protection to whistle blowers in the wake of the gruesome killing of Maharashtra Additional Collector Yeshwant Sonawane allegedly by an oil mafia.
The PIL by advocates-N Raja Raman and Ajay Mandyal cited a number of recent incidents in which whistle blowers have been killed or intimidated by mafia and political leaders to silence their voice against growing corruption in the country.
But the court refused to pass any order, saying that it was not possible to keep monitoring cases across the country. It, however, allowed the petitioners to approach the high court for protection of whistle blowers in a specific case.
It also said that the court cannot ask the government to pass legislation in this regard.
The petitioners had urged the apex court to direct the Centre to frame a law to ensure that complaints of corruption are dealt with promptly and whistle blowers like RTI activists, journalists and advocates are given necessary protection.
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