Technocrats may head UPPCL soon

LUCKNOW: The appointment of bureaucrats as chairman and managing director in the U.P. Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) and other state-owned corporations through the routine “transfer-posting” practice may not be possible any longer if the state government delivers on its written commitment made to the power employees’ unions here on Saturday, people aware of the issue said.

Barring for some months initially, the positions of chairman and MD in the UPPCL and other energy corporations, including discoms, have been held by IAS officers since the U.P. State Electricity Board (UPSEB) was unbundled and three independent corporations were made out of it in 2000.

The U.P Vidyut Karmchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, a body representing state’s power engineers and employees, on Saturday agreed to defer its fiveday work boycott on the written assurance, among others, that the government would begin, at the earliest, the process to appoint chairman and MDs in all the energy corporation as per the procedure laid down in clause 32(i) of the Article of Association.

“If the government keeps its commitment, it will become possible for engineers to hold top positions of chairman and MDs while the chances of the bureaucrats will correspondingly diminish,” a senior official of the energy department said.

The Article of Association protects service conditions related to the power employees. It came into being as a part of an agreement between the state government and the power employees’ unions following a prolonged strike against the government decision to trifurcate the UPSEB in 2000.

Clause 32 (i) of the Article of Association says, “The Government of Uttar Pradesh shall constitute a Selection Committee consisting of nominees from the State Government and from such recognised institutions as the state government may decide, to select and recommend to the Government of Uttar Pradesh the persons to be appointed as Directors, including the Chairman, Managing Director and whole-time Directors.”

The Article of Association further says, “A full-time member of the Board Directors shall be a person who has experience and proven skill and knowledge in any relevant field such as, design, construction, operation and maintenance of generating stations, transmission and supply of electricity, applied economics, human resource management.”

The initial appointments, after the trifurcation, it is said, were made as per the provisions of the clause 32 (i) , following which all the top positions in all the three newly created corporations—the UPPCL, thermal power corporation and the hydro power corporation -went to the technocrats.

RK Narayan, a technocrat from Power Grid, was appointed the first UPPCL chairman.

But after a year or so, an IAS officer dislodged him overnight. After that, the practice of IAS officers being appointed to the top positions there and also in the transmission power corporations and discoms, that came into being later, started. The trend continues.

As per the prevailing practice, the UPPCL chairman is an ex-officio chairman of all other energy corporations and discoms as well.