Bokaro, July 21: CBI investigations into promotions in Bokaro steel in December 2008 have thrown up documents and submissions that suggest favouritism, use of doctored lists and punishment postings to at least one senior official who refused to toe the line.

Among the documents seized by the investigative agency during raids conducted at the Bokaro offices of the MD and four general managers on July 1, are several lists of successful candidates with discrepancies in names and the marks they had obtained to be promoted from a non-executive position to an executive one.

“There is no doubt that there was corruption in the promotions as dozens of employees met me and even submitted several documents that can expose many senior officials,” said CBI DIG Anil Palta, who forwarded the complaints he received to Dhanbad for further probe.

According to the CBI, the first list to announce the names of the 394 who had been promoted was released on March 27, 2009. But several candidates, who thought they had done well and deserved to be in the list, used the Right To Information Act to mount pressure on the Bokaro steel management to reveal the marks they had scored.

After a year, on March 5, 2010, Bokaro steel relented and came out with another list. This time names of all 1,504 candidates and the marks they had scored were published.

On March 22, 2010, the steel PSU came out with a revised final list of 394 names, but there were discrepancies in as many as 60 names. Some had their marks reduced and were thus ruled out for promotion, while some new names were added to those who had been promoted.

“I got 15 out of 15 in experience, 13 out of 15 in performance and 39 out of 50 in the written test. But in the interview, I got only 10 out of 20 even though I was able to answer all the four questions that I was asked,” said Dilip Kumar of steel melting shop, one of the many who moved court in January 2009, alleging that relatives of politicians from Bihar and Jharkhand were favoured while legitimate candidates were denied promotions.

“When the results came out, my name did not feature in the list whereas several others who got less than 50 per cent marks in performance, experience and the written test were declared successful,” he added.

Aloke Kumar Chatterjee, who was an operator in the traffic department of the plant, was promoted to junior officer as per the first list of March 27, 2009, and handed over his letter by executive director S. Ranade.

“But after a year I was told that my promotion had been cancelled as there was problem in my annual confidential report,” Chatterjee, who has also met some CBI officers to present his case, said.

PSU STAND

Bokaro steel did not deny the investigations, but refused to comment on the employees’ charges regarding the malpractice in the promotion process.

“Bokaro Steel is co-operating fully with the investigations. Regarding the question of whether there is any substance in the charges for which the investigation is being done, it is not appropriate for us to make any comments as the matter is under investigation,” said Sanjay Tiwari, the chief of communications.

THE PROCEDURE

As many as 1,504 had applied for the promotions that would mean a salary hike of around Rs 10,000 per month. They were to be marked on 100 of which 50 marks were set aside for a written test, while 15 marks each were on performance and experience.

The remaining 20 marks were for an interview.

The written test was conducted on September 28, 2008. The results were published on 3, November and 1,200 qualified for interviews that were conducted between November 9 and December 13, 2008.

For the interviews, two boards were constituted by Bokaro steel, one for those belonging to works division and another for those from non-works division.

For the works division employees, the board was headed by executive director S. Ranade, assistant general manager (personnel) B.C.Das, GMs Shitansu Prasad (personnel and administration), Mahesh Tripathy (research and control) and K.D. Trivedi (technical), who is said to have protested as the final list of successful candidates did not match his.

For the non-works division workers, the board was headed by executive director of Bokaro steel Jivesh Mishra, with GMs Shankar Narain (materials), Shankar Chowdhury (human resources) and deputy general manager (personnel) P.K Balasubramaniam and Nita Baa as members.

Mishra, too, is understood to have protested once he realised that the process wasn’t fair. He has since been transferred to Durgapur steel factory, while Ranade has resigned from Bokaro Steel to join JSW Steel.

Among those in the boards whose offices in the main administrative building were raided by the CBI on July 1 were GMs Shankar Chowdhury, Shankar Narain, Shitansu Prasad and deputy general manager P.K. Balasubra- maniam.

DISCREPANCIES

Vinod Kumar Tewary was denied a promotion as per the first list, but was promoted as per the revised final list on March 22, 2010. His score of 77 (39 in test, 11 for experience, 14 for performance and 13 in interview) was revised to 79 (interview score increased by 2).

Similarly, Seema Bhowmic, Bhupendra Kumar Singh, Ram Vikrama, who weren’t promoted as per the first list, made it according to the revised list.

There is another set of employees who had been promoted according to the first list even though they did not appear for interviews. For example, Pradip Kumar Upadhyaya, who was released from Bokaro steel on August 16, 2008, did not appear for his interview. But the list marks him with 16 for his interview.

His marks have been revised to zero in the final list. Others like him who were denied promotions in the final list were Kedar Nath Bhakta, Raja Ram Singh, Sheo Choubey and Satish Kumar Srivastav.

WHAT NEXT

CBI IG R.P. Agrawal, who is based in Patna and heads investigations in Bihar as well as Jharkhand, is monitoring the case.

Dhanbad-based CBI SP V.K. Singh, who led the July 1 raids at eight places in Bokaro, including offices of some GMs in the Bokaro steel’s administrative building, said some senior officials of the company would now be summoned for questioning.

The raids were a culmination of investigations launched by the CBI in April 2009 in which more than three dozen CBI officers were involved.

Singh had told The Telegraph that the agency has been “on the prowl” for the last few months. “Now, several Bokaro steel officials will be summoned for questioning, including seniors,” he added.

According to CBI sources, a general manager whose premises was also raided, had agreed to help the agency as an approver, claiming that he was forced to obey his senior.