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The government has suspended a director in the country’s biggest oil public sector unit, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), over alleged irregularities.
Shashi Shankar, director, technical and field services, was placed under suspension pending, disciplinary proceedings against him. Ministry officials said a vigilance inquiry relating to finalisation of a tender for procurement has been instituted against Shankar.
“The award of contract was delayed for about three years. No decision was being taken even after the tender had been processed,” said a senior petroleum ministry official. A Pune-based company had emerged as the lowest bidder in the tender. When asked about the value of the contract, ONGC Chairman D K Saraf said, “The contract was of less than Rs 100 crore value.” He, however, declined to comment further. The ministry official said more than the value of contract, the issue was about “transparency” and “falling performance due to delays in decision making”.
The tender floated in 2012 involved procurement of 21 blow-out preventers (BOP). Shankar had “committed gross misconduct while dealing with the tender”, said a press release from the ministry of petroleum and natural gas. Such decisions, however, are taken by a committee and not a single individual under the norms governing award of contracts.
The suspension order from the government came on Monday, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange. “Taking strong note of the lapses, the government ordered the suspension with immediate effect to ensure fair and transparent inquiry,” said the ministry press release. ONGC said the action was taken under the company’s Conduct, Discipline and Appeal Rules, 1994. Shankar had been associated with the tender as group general manager and official on special duty to director (T&FS) and later as director.
Shanker, one of the five full-time directors on the ONGC’s board, had taken over in December 2012 after the superannuation of U N Bose. He is the youngest board member and has been with ONGC for over three decades. He also earlier headed a multi-disciplinary team for deepwater and ultra-deep water drilling of ONGC.
