How Can Semi-Government Companies Escape The CVC Dragnet

Rampant corruption continues to bloom in such companies as they are presumably out of the ambit of CVC and RTI

50 percent shareholding with the government, rest with institutional and retail investors but management lies strictly with the government. How can the managements of such companies say that they do not fall under the ambit of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and are not answerable to any application filed under the The Right To Information Act (RTI) 2005 ?

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) was established on 11th February,1964 by a resolution of Government of India as an apex body for prevention of corruption in Central Government institutions. The Commission was given statutory status by the enactment of “The Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003”. After enactment of CVC Act, 2003, the Commission became a multi-member body consisting of a Central Vigilance Commissioner (Chairperson) and not more than two Vigilance Commissioners (Members), to be appointed by the President of India.

But there are many a contradictions as to how such companies should function and whether they fall under the purview of the CVC / RTI or not. In 2019, Manoj Kumar Jha, member of Parliament (MP) from Rajya Sabha had asked questions about government’s opinion on the status of Mother Dairy and diversion of funds by National Diary Development Board (NDDB).

After taking into account opinion from the solicitor general of India and department of legal services, Dr Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, the then minister of state for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, made a statement in the Upper house , “in his considered opinion Mother Dairy should qualify under the semi-government’ dairy, if not a fully government dairy as all of its shareholding is government owned. A government company may either be a public company or a private one…MDFVPL, being a government company should fall under the purview of Central Vigilance Commission -CVC Act.”

If this can apply for the National Diary Development Board, how can others be out of the ambit of the CVC or the RTI Act ? Law or the land should be equal for one and all, be a government body, a Public Sector Undertaking or a Semi-Government Company. A Semi-Government company cannot be above law and be allowed to play with public money at its own whims and fancies. After all, these are too listed in the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange and it is the responsibility of the Government of India, the CVC and SEBI etc. to ensure that public money is not looted by the managements of these companies.