Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India would soon make public the names of those people who have joined the board of some companies as 'professional directors' without meeting the stipulated guidelines to occupy those posts, a top official said on Friday.

". . . you have so-called professional directors on the boards, not professional directors in terms of a director (finance) or director (materials) or director (human resources) but men and women who have made it their profession to be directors on boards," Sebi chairman M Damodaran said.

He said that these people have joined the boards without owning a single share and making any effective contribution to the company.

"I don't mind if they are on a number of boards provided they read the papers..think about the issues and contribute effectively rather than get into a large number of boards," he said at a programme. "But I certainly mind when these people get on boards and become permanent entities. . . more permanent than the furniture in the boardrooms."

Damodaran was speaking at the inaugural address of an orientation programme for company directors and other professionals on 'New Frontiers of Corporate Governance,' organised by the National Law School of India University in collaboration with the National Foundation for Corporate Governance.