In a veiled attack on government nominees on company boards, Sebi Chairman M Damodaran questioned their contribution to the functioning of the corporate entity."We don't want people who walk into the board rooms as representatives of constituents. Occasionally this question arises in the case of government nominees on boards," he said during a CII conference on corporate governance."Do they continue to represent government and government alone when they are inside the board rooms or they look in totality about the interests of the company forgetting from what source they come from?" he asked.Damodaran said these issues are part of the value creation debate and should be addressed on a continuing basis.Terming boards as a centre stage for governance process, Damodaran said it was important to retain good people on boards, but it should also add value to the functioning."We don't want dignitaries to grace the boards... We need them as good value addition on the board," he said."They should be trained so that they understand the expectations of the company and they need to be challenged to live up to it," he said.Advocating a need to move away from the concept of having a specified number of directors to content with, the Sebi chairman was for a balanced approach of regulation.He questioned whether "overly prescriptive regime" had dampened innovation or if stipulation of quarterly reporting made companies to have a short term view.Damodaran said the message of corporate governance should reach everyone, especially to those who are not convinced about its benefits.
