(FE)
TIGHTENING THE screws on state-run companies, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is examining their spending on fringe benefits, such as perks, facilities and foreign travel, for senior officials of public sector undertakings in the oil and gas sector.
In a letter dated March 14, Pradhan’s ministry asked all PSUs to submit a report on the perks and facilities being provided to board-level directors, highlighting their monetary implications on the company’s balance sheet and red-flagging if they did not fall within official guidelines.
Pradhan’s move follows complaints received from the Central Vigilance Commission and the Cabinet Secretariat, which indicated that PSUs under his ministry were handing out a number of such benefits to their directors — some of these perks are said to be beyond norms prescribed by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).
“It is also not clear whether these facilities/perks are being given with the approval of the board of the PSUs,” said the ministry’s letter. A consolidated note, it said, should also be put up “within a month” before the respective boards for information.
