Top executives of large private infra firms can now head NHAI

The chairmanship of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is no longer a bureaucratic preserve. The chief executive officers or chief operating officers of private infrastructure companies with a net worth of Rs 2,000 crore or more are now eligible for the coveted job.

The salary at NHAI will, however, be at government scales. So, the CEOs and COOs at L&T Infrastructure, Reliance Infrastructure, GVK Infrastructure, GMR Infrastructure and Punj Lloyd, among others, can now join the race to Delhi’s corridors of power, provided they are willing to give up cushy salaries.

The NHAI chairman gets an annual salary of around Rs 11 lakh while the salary of a COO or CEO in a private company can be anything above Rs 60 lakh. “An additional secretary rank bureaucrat and any class one officer of a public-sector undertaking are the other two sections allowed to apply for the chairman’s post in the highways authority,” said a senior ministry official, who did not want to be identified.

This is the first time the government has opened the post of the roads authority chairman to private sector candidates. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the road ministry proposal. The committee, headed by the prime minister, is the highest government committee on appointments.

The official said any executive with the private sector, if selected for the job, would have to sever all ties with the previous employer. “Severing ties with the past employer would ensure the person does the duty with integrity and without conflict of interest,” the official added.

Analysts welcome the idea and feel there will be enough people willing to do the job. “Many people with a desire to make functioning more efficient would like to join NHAI.

Private sector executives, who were bureaucrats earlier, would like to rejoin the government. These people will bring dynamism and change the authority,” says Parvesh Minocha, MD of the transportation division at Feedback Ventures, an infrastructure consultancy firm.

Minocha sees the tainted image of NHAI due to Central Bureau of Investigation raids as one of the deterrents.

NHAI has been without a full-time chairman for more than the past 10 months now after the last incumbent, Brajeshwar Singh (who got an extension for four months), retired in December. Since then, the roads secretary has the additional charge as the chairman of the highways authority.

The procedure to select the chairman, who will get a five-year term, has been marred in controversy. The government began the selection process in 2009 and twice went through the process of shortlisting candidates. The first search committee was scrapped after the process was mired in controversy, with Brahm Dutt, the then roads secretary, applying for the job despite being a member of the selection committee.

During the tenure of T R Baalu as roads minister, NHAI saw five chairmen between July 2006 and December 2008. The shortest tenure was of J S Maini, which lasted two months, and the longest was of N Gokulram (11 months).