PSUs, Banks Must Include SC-ST Members In Board of Directors: Parliament Panel

New Delhi: A parliamentary committee on Friday stressed the need to mandatorily have a Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST) member on the board of directors of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and banks among others, according to an official report.

The panel also said that it was "not satisfied at the complacent stance" taken by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) saying that there is no government policy of reservation on the recommendation of names by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) to the board-level posts in Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).

"The committee are of the view that there are highly qualified candidates among SCs/STs and that the ministry/DoPT should devise a concrete monitoring mechanism in coordination of other ministries/Department of Financial Services etc. to ensure that such candidates/members belonging to SC/ST category are mandatorily included in the decision making bodies of all ministries/departments/PSUs/banks etc.," it said.

The observation was made in the second report of the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (Department of Personnel and Training), headed by BJP MP Faggan Singh Kulaste.

The report, which was tabled on Friday, is on action taken by the government on the recommendations or observations contained in the panel's 25th report.

The panel, in its 25th report, noted "negligible presence or no presence of SC and ST members" on the board of directors of almost all the ministries, departments, PSUs and banks among others.

The most common reason provided was that “the officers of SC/ST community could not be appointed to the post of members and chairman, primarily due to non-availability of suitable candidate”, the report had said.

The government, in its reply, said, "As of now, there is no government policy of reservation on recommendation of names by PESB to the board level posts in CPSEs." "The Committee are not satisfied at the complacent stance taken by the Ministry/DoPT wherein the action taken reply has stated that there is no government policy of reservation on recommendation of names by PESB to the board Level posts in CPSEs," the report said.

The panel said that recommending three candidates from the SC/ST category out of the total 15 candidates for executive directors in various public sector banks for the year i.e. 2023-24 seems to be not satisfactory unless and until they are appointed in the board of directors.

"In this regard the Committee would again like to stress the need to mandatorily have an SC/ST member in the board of directors of all the ministries/departments/PSUs/ banks etc.," the report said.

The committee strongly felt that the absence of an "SC/ST member deprives SCs/STs employees of their legitimate expectation to be a part of the decision-making process and their involvement in policy matters", it said.

The panel, in view of the constitutional mandate of socio-economic justice firmly believes that mandatory inclusion of an SC/ST member in such a decision making body is the need of the hour so as to give proper representation and to render justice to the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups of the society, the report said.

It said that the non-inclusion of SC/ST members in the board of directors does not augur well for the large number of SC/ST employees.

"The Committee are of the view that there are highly qualified candidates among SCs/STs and that the Ministry/DoPT should devise a concrete monitoring mechanism in coordination of other ministries/department of financial services etc. to ensure that such candidates/members belonging to SC/ST category are mandatorily included in the decision making bodies of all ministries/departments/PSUs/banks etc.," the report said.

The panel said that "to protect the interests of SCs/STs in service matters representation of SCs and STs should be made mandatory in the board of directors of all government/ministries/department/PSUs/banks etc."

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