Experts beat politicos to BHEL board

Abandoning its attempts to push politicians on the board of Navratna companies as independent directors, the government has nominated four experts to the board of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.

Earlier, the government was trying to push in politicians on the board of BHEL. The administrative ministry had recommended names of a special invitee to the All India Congress Committee and a former Member of Parliament for consideration by the search committee.

After a hue and cry was raised over the issue, it recommended fresh names, four of which have got the clearance from the search committee and nod from the appointment committee of the cabinet.

The four new independent directors on the board of BHEL are - Sanjay Dadlika, advisor in the shipping ministry; Ashok Aggarwal, president of D S Group; Manish Gupta, former West Bengal chief secretary and Shekhar Datta, chairman of auto company Piaggio Vehicles Pvt Ltd and an IDBI director.

With this, BHEL now has five independent directors in the board. The fifth director is Vineet Nayyar.  The independent directors have been appointed with effect from November 16, the company said.

The company needs one more independent director and sources said that the name has more or less been finalised by the search committee.

The BHEL board has 13 directors, including chairman and managing director A K Puri and five functional directors.