New Delhi: State-run Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has shown the doors to its whistleblower whose complaint to the national anti-corruption ombudsman, the Lokpal, initiated an inquiry into alleged corrupt practices at the company in 2024. PSU Watch is in possession of documents that show that the whistleblower, Rajeev Bhatia, who approached the Lokpal in 2022, has been cut loose by the public sector company through a ‘pre-mature retirement order,’ dated February 11, with immediate effect, along with three months’ salary in lieu of three months’ notice period.
“… it is in public interest to pre-maturely retire Shri Rajeev Bhatia… General Manager (Special Steels), Central Marketing Organisation, BSO, Kolkata, on account of ineffectiveness, doubtful integrity, and conduct which is unbecoming of an employee of SAIL and obstructs efficiency,” said the order issued by SAIL. Questions sent to SAIL about how the management arrived at the said conclusion regarding the whistleblower’s integrity and effectiveness at work remained unanswered by the time this story was published. This story will be updated when SAIL responds to our questions. The decision to ‘pre-maturely retire’ Bhatia, an alumnus of IIT-Delhi, who has been working with SAIL since 1994, merits scrutiny, especially if one looks at the timeline.
After reviewing documents and speaking to sources, PSU Watch has learnt that Bhatia approached the SAIL management around mid-November 2022 with complaints pertaining to alleged corrupt practices in the PSU’s commercial dealings. Documents show that by the end of the same month, on November 24, 2022, the SAIL management placed Bhatia under suspension on the grounds that he used his Gmail account to inform the Chairperson about alleged corrupt practices at the organisation.
Bhatia then approached the Lokpal with the same set of complaints on January 11, 2023. On March 28, 2023, the Lokpal referred the complaints to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for initiating a preliminary inquiry under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 and directed the CVC to submit a report by May 20, 2023. On April 30, 2023, the then SAIL Chairperson, Soma Mondal, who was also named in one of the complaints, superannuated from service. On May 31, 2023, Amarendu Prakash took over as SAIL Chairman.
The CVC submitted its report on July 28, 2023 to the Lokpal, identifying lapses on the part of SAIL in its commercial dealings with private entities. On the basis of this report, the Lokpal assigned the complaints for further hearing to a Division Bench on August 24, 2023.
Meanwhile, after 10-month-long suspension, Bhatia was reinstated to service on September 28, 2023. After a lengthy hearing process, the Lokpal, in its order dated January 10, 2024, asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to initiate an inquiry into the matter. The findings also led to the suspension of two Directors of SAIL — Director (Commercial) VS Chakravarthy and Director (Finance) AK Tulsiani — and 26 below board-level officials, including Executive Directors (ED), for alleged corruption, SAIL told the bourses on January 20, 2024. At the same time, NMDC also announced that its Director (Commercial) V Suresh has been placed under suspension. This was because Suresh was working with SAIL at the time these alleged corrupt practices took place but had moved to NMDC by the time they were exposed by Bhatia.
However, by June 2024, SAIL revoked the suspension of its below-Board level officers. In addition, the Ministry of Steel, which had a change of guard after the 2024 General Elections with HD Kumaraswamy taking the reins on June 10, 2024, reinstated the two Directors who had been placed under suspension by the ministry prior to the elections. The order reinstating the two Directors to service was issued by the Ministry of Steel on June 28, 2024, SAIL told the stock exchanges in a regulatory filing. Therefore, most of the officers who were facing the heat because of their alleged involvement in corrupt practices were back to work at SAIL at sensitive positions despite a pending CBI inquiry.
Former SAIL Chairperson Soma Mondal, who was also named in one of the complaints involving Avon Steel and could possibly face investigation from the CBI after the Lokpal order, moved the Delhi High Court and got a stay on investigations against her on July 26, 2024.
On October 10, 2024, the CBI filed its maiden First Information Report (FIR) in the cases, suspecting offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery for the purpose of cheating, knowingly using forged document as genuine, public servant obtaining undue advantage, bribing a public servant by a commercial organisation and abetment of offences under the PC Act, 1988. In the FIR, the CBI said that a case has been registered against SAIL, Venkatesh Infra Projects (P) Ltd, APCO Infratech Pvt Ltd and unknown public servants and private persons. The CBI has not been able to file an FIR in the second case involving Avon Steel because of the stay granted by the Delhi HC to Mondal, the next hearing for which is slated to take place next month.
Three months on, the SAIL management pre-maturely retired the whistleblower whose complaints brought to light corrupt practices in SAIL’s commercial dealings with the above-mentioned private entities. To know more about the nature of these commercial dealings, read a previous report by PSU Watch here.
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