New JSEB chief Shiv Basant

Ranchi, Sept. 4: As part of his clean-up drive, Governor M.O.H. Farook today reconstituted Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) and replaced controversial chairman H.B. Lal with former chief secretary and senior IAS Shiv Basant.

Basant would also be the board member (administration).

Officially 83-year-old, but 90 according to a PIL in the Jharkhand High Court, Lal was reinstated on August 30 after Supreme Court quashed the state high court order asking him to be removed on grounds of age, saying there was no prescribed age limit for the chairman’s post under the Electricity Act. Former Governor Syed Sibtey Razi had removed Lal in April last year after the high court order.

But now corruption charges, not age, are proving to be Lal’s bête noire. Lal’s name appeared in an FIR lodged by the state vigilance bureau, also on August 30. It alleged he received bribes to favour a firm while awarding rural electrification contracts.

Besides the governor, those involved in the decision to oust Lal included adviser V.S. Dubey, who also holds the charge of the energy department, and chief secretary Ashok Kumar Singh.

Lal is in illustrious company. The FIR mentions former chief minister Madhu Koda, former JSEB chairmen B.M Verma and B.N. Pandey among others who received kickbacks from IVRCL, a Hyderabad-based firm.