Agriculture Ministry seeks details from IFFCO on property gifted to its MD

IFFCO board presented its Managing Director U S Awasthi and his deputy Rakesh Kapur plush accommodation in South Delhi

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Agriculture Ministry has sought a detailed information from IFFCO on the controversy regarding the transfer of a prime residential property in Delhi to its Managing Director U S Awasthi as a special incentive.

"Even though there is no government equity in IFFCO, but the cooperative is still governed by the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act. We have asked for clarification from IFFCO on this issue at the earliest," a senior Agriculture Ministry official told PTI.

The clarification has been sought in view of the recent controversy over IFFCO board presenting its Managing Director U S Awasthi and his deputy Rakesh Kapur plush accommodation in South Delhi. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is also investigating this issue.

Asked if the government has legal control over IFFCO, the official said, "That we still need to examine after we get the details...IFFCO is not a private company but a cooperative governed by certain cooperative principles".

The official added that IFFCO has reached to this height in business because of the initial funding by the government.

"It may be a common practice in private firms to reward CEOs and MDs with such kind of gifts for their contribution to company's growth but not in cooperatives," he observed.

Meanwhile, the IFFCO chief had recently met with Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to explain that the property of IFFCO is not a public property and there was no conflict of interest in an officer receiving compensation or ex-gratia in recognition of his contributions, sources said.

Awasthi's tenure as Managing Director started in 1993. Since then IFFCO's fertiliser production increased from 24 lakh tonnes to 86 lakh tonnes in 2011-12, while sales grew from 26 lakh tonnes to 122 lakh tonnes in the review period.

Similarly, the turnover of the cooperative rose from Rs 1,463 crore in 1992-93 to Rs 25,599 crore in 2011-12.

Earlier this month, Awasthi and Kapur had offered to relinquish their posh accommodations, following the controversy.

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) is registered and managed as a cooperative with no direct or indirect government holding, debt or guarantee.