HC dissatisfied with NALCO probe

The Bombay high court on Wednesday expressed dissatisfaction over the probe conducted by National Aluminium Corporation into the allegations of molestation of a female employee by its chairman-cum-managing director and inquired from the public sector unit whether the committee conducting the inquiry could be reconstituted.

Justice Ajit Shah and Justice Abhay Oka deferred the matter till May 6 after Additional Solicitor General Mukund Rohatgi said he would seek instructions from higher-ups on the reconstitution of the committee.

Rohatgi pleaded that the existing committee had completed the inquiry and was in the process of writing its report. He urged the court to wait until the report was received.

The judges however said they had perused the questions put by the committee to the victim and felt that the probe was not being conducted properly. They suggested reconstitution of the committee of five members instead of the existing four in keeping with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court.

The court had earlier stayed the probe after the victim complained that the probe committee was biased against her and that during the inquiry she was asked to demonstrate the alleged act of molestation committed by the accused.

The victim alleged that she was molested by the NALCO's chairman-cum-managing director C Venkataramana on February 7.

She urged through her lawyer Satish Maneshinde that departmental inquiry should be launched against CMD Venkatramana and regional manager Virendra Singh for alleged misconduct of sexually molesting her at a hotel. She feared that NALCO might transfer or victimise her for lodging a police complaint against the duo.