HAL officer gets a cold handshake

The PSU claims it only rejected his application for extension

While speculation in HAL is rife about the reasons behind the letter, Shivamurthy’s comments during Aero India 2011 on HAL going in for an initial public offer (IPO) may have done him in. The Centre apparently took the comments seriously. The HAL employees’ union too had criticised the comments and even staged dharnas.

Sources in HAL told Deccan Herald that minutes after Shivamurthy received the MoD letter, “HR officials immediately set up a committee and his office was locked within no time.” Shivamurthy, they said, even had to go back home in an autorickshaw.

Although HAL is tightlipped about the reasons why such high drama preceded Shivamurthy’s exit last week and maintains that it was a simple case of the MoD not obliging to his application for an extension, the general practice in State-run firms is that offices of directors are not seized unless the incumbent is found guilty of a serious misdemeanour.

Shivamurthy was appointed Director (Finance) in October 2005 and his term as director ended in October last year, following which he had applied for an extension. Speaking to Deccan Herald, HAL Chairman Ashok Nayak said: “Do not ask me any questions on this matter. Please talk to the MoD.” Shivamurthy disconnected the call soon after he learnt it was from this newspaper.

HAL Executive Director (HR) T Sudhakar Rao, however, said: “There is no real problem. His extension was not accepted and therefore he was relieved from service.”

On why his office was seized and he left the campus in a hurry, Rao said: “The office was seized because he had to handover the charge and given that there is nobody to take charge, we had to lock his office until somebody is chosen for the position in order to avoid problems of things being misplaced among other things.”

It is noteworthy that Shivamurthy’s confirmation as the Director (Finance) had also taken a very long time. “Normally, it takes only six months to a year.” Sources point out that there had been several internal problems and also that Shivamurthy did not share a healthy relationship with former Chairman Ashok Baweja.

The position Shivamurthy occupied, with the current drama, has earned the tag of being “jinxed” as his predecessor A K Zutshi was arrested by the CBI for corruption in 2004 .

The Zutshi episode

Back in 2004, former Director (Finance) of HAL, A K Zutshi, and his accomplice Manikantam were arrested in Chennai for offering a bribe of Rs 50,000, a cellphone and a laptop to a CBI official at a hotel for weakening an assets case against him. The Bangalore-based Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI had booked the case against Zutshi in March 2003 for investing crores of rupees in shares. It was reported that Zutshi had sent Manikantam, a software engineer with Patni Computers, to check with the CBI official if his case could be diluted. Zutshi had promised a bribe to the CBI official. Both Zutshi and Manikantam were caught in a CBI trap.