Close on the heels of Syndicate Bank Chairman’s arrest for alleged graft, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on Thursday, said the government would deal with PSU (public sector undertaking) lenders sternly, and was scrutinising recent appointments of bank heads.
“Time has come to be strict with PSU banks. I have urged the Cabinet Secretary and the RBI Governor to examine the recent appointments in public sector banks,” he told reporters here.
The CBI had recently written to the Finance Ministry alleging ‘irregularities’ in appointments of chiefs of PSU banks, following which Mr. Jaitley called for a closer scrutiny of recent appointments.
Syndicate Bank Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) S. K. Jain was arrested earlier this month for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs.50 lakh to enhance credit limits of a company. A panel headed by the RBI Governor selects PSU bank chiefs. Applications are processed by the Cabinet Secretary and placed before the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) for its final approval.
State-run banks in which CMDs were appointed recently include Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Allahabad Bank and Central Bank of India.
