Centre Raises Retirement Age For Psu Employees

The two-year increase in the retirement age cleared by the Union government last week is to be extended to employees of public sector units (PSUs).

As a result, the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has deferred all interviews for board-level appointments in PSUs.

A notification detailing the two-year extension for PSU employees is expected to be issued by the department of public enterprises (DPE) around May 25, government sources said here.

The earlier government notification extending the term of government employees did not include employees of public sector units.

Among the immediate beneficiaries of the governments decision are National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) chairman and managing director (CMD) Rajinder Singh, Indian Airlines MD P C Sen, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd CMD B K Syngal; Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) chief S Rajagopalan, Indian Petrochemicals Ltd CMD S Ramanathan, and Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) CMD S S Motial.

 

A top-level government source told Business Standard yesterday: We were told that the government would issue an order on extension forpublic sector employees. So, the PESB has cancelled the interviews we had planned (for board-level appointments).

For instance, the board was to interview candidates to the board of directors of MTNL and VSNL.

However, sources clarified that for board-level appointments, a clearance from the PESB would be required.

Most of the board-level appointments are effective under contract or the retirement age, whichever is earlier. They will need to go through an individual review for these (board-level) employees, he said.

The individual review entails an examination of the employees track record and performance report.

In the case of NTPC, ironically, the PESB had completed the process of interviews for the post of CMD and had shortlisted director (finance) C P Jain to succeed Rajinder Singh.

However, with the governments decision to include PSU employees for the two-year extension, Singh will continue in his current position.

There are some 30 PSUs without chief executives and over 45 director-level appointments pending with the government.

The process of selection to the top echelons of PSUs is a four-step process.

First, when a chief executive or director-level post falls vacant, PESB calls for applications to the posts. Next, after interviews are conducted by the board and candidates shortlisted, recommendations are made to the respective administrative ministries.

Once the concerned administrative ministry decides on a particular candidate, a proposal is put up to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), which clears it.

PESB had proposed last year that all decisions relating to appointments of chief executives and directors in PSUs be taken by their respective administrative ministries.

The proposal was aimed at appointing chief executives and directors of public sector units immediately after posts fall vacant and usher in transparency and accountability in the appointment process.

The controversial Jain diaries contained the names of top officials of several public sector units, which allegedly paid vast sums of money to politicians to secure postings and extensions.