Public sector bank appointments to be under CVC vigilance

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has red-flagged appointment process of several senior officers in public sector banks undertaken during the fag end of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime.

According to sources, the CVC has held back the vigilance clearance given to some of the names shortlisted for appointments due to alleged anomalies in the selection process.

The development comes at a time when the new government is relooking at some of the names recommended for senior posts in the public sector by the UPA government.

The CVC has in a letter written to the finance ministry has also cited recent media reports about alleged irregularities in toplevel appointments in public sector banks.

The CVC has prima facie claimed to have found instances where more marks were given to some of the candidates in their interviews allegedly without any basis to secure their entry into the banks, sources added.

The Reserve Bank of India governor is the head of the Board that selects chiefs of public sector banks. The appointments committee of Cabinet approves Board-level appointments in the public sector undertakings, including nationalised banks.

Following the investigation into the Syndicate Bank bribes-for-loan scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had sent an advisory to the finance ministry stating that appointments of some public sector bank chiefs did not appear to be above board.

The CBI had pointed out that Syndicate Bank chairman and managing director S.K. Jain, arrested in the scam, had made it to the top job despite poor ratings in his annual confidential reports. According to sources, the CBI has suggested legal scrutiny after it found evidence to suggest that ACRs and interviews were managed and some middlemen also allegedly played a role.

Jain was arrested by the CBI for allegedly receiving Rs 50-lakh bribe to enhance credit limits of Bhushan Steel and Prakash Industries and later investigations showed that the cash trail in the bribes was around Rs 3.5 crore.