Business Standard

Bank of Maharashtr­a CMD Muhnot fired

Marathe new MD and CEO of Bank

- INDIVJAL DHASMANA & ABHIJIT LELE New Delhi/Mumbai, 26 September

The government on Monday sacked chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bank of Maharashtr­a Sushil Muhnot with immediate effect, just four days ahead of his retirement. Bank of India executive director Ravindra Prabhakar Marathe has been appointed MD and CEO of Bank of Maharashtr­a. Marathe took charge and said his priority would be to take employees and customers along to improve financials of the bank.

The government on Monday sacked chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bank of Maharashtr­a Sushil Muhnot (pictured) with immediate effect, just four days ahead of his retirement.

Bank of India executive director Ravindra Prabhakar Marathe has been appointed MD and CEO of Bank of Maharashtr­a. Marathe took charge and said his priority would be to take employees and customers along to improve financials of the bank.

This was a rare step taken by the government as Muhnot was to retire on September 30. The decisions were announced through two notificati­ons issued by the department of financial services. However, the notificati­ons did not give reasons for Muhnot’s removal.

Earlier this year, the finance ministry had served a showcause notice to Muhnot, asking him to explain why he should not be terminated for allegedly occupying two houses, according to sources.

He had allegedly occupied two houses — one in Mumbai and another in Pune, the bank headquarte­rs. The finance ministry took up the issue following a complaint. Occupying two houses is a violation of the service conditions. Marathe said he will give priority to improve profitabil­ity of the bank by controllin­g asset quality, among other steps. “I am aware of the challenges that public sector banks are facing,” he said.

Earlier, too, some stateowned bank chiefs have been issued show-cause notices. Former Corporatio­n Bank CMD Ramnath Pradeep was issued show-cause notices for alleged violation of norms, but he completed his term. A decade ago, Punjab & Sind Bank CMD N S Gujral was asked to go on leave. In recent history, Syndicate Bank chief S K Jain was removed from his post after a CBI case on charges of corruption. In the state-owned insurance sector, Life Insurance Corporatio­n Chief S K Roy was replaced by V K Sharma.

However, it was said that Roy was removed on his request to be relieved of his duty because of personal reasons.

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