Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Ashok Singh declares war on S. Roy Choudhury

http://petroleumdealers.wordpress.com/2011/11/20/ashok-singh-declares-war-on-s-roy-choudhury-of-hpcl/#comment-1085

Supreme Court said corrupt should be hanged at Lamp Post.
S Roy Choudhury with his predecessor Arun Balakrishnan deserve it.
At the earliest

On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 3:27 PM, ravi srivastava wrote:




Ashok Singh declares war on S. Roy Choudhury
Vol 15, PW 10 (17 Nov 2011) - Politics & People

Hindustan Petroleum chairman S. Roy Choudhury has promised to fight a series of damaging allegations soon to be laid bare in the Delhi High Court. Ashok Singh, a former HPCL officer and labour union official, plans to file a petition claiming the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) fraudulently cleared Choudhury’s appointment as company chairman in 2010. “The CVC didn’t stop Choudhury from taking charge in August 2010,” Singh tells PETROWATCH. “But my complaint against him is pending since November 11, 2009.” Two months ago Singh invoked the Right to Information Act to discover his complaint against Choudhury is gathering dust at the CVC. Provoked, he hired a team of top lawyers, and is trying to hire former solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam also. A draft petition, seen by this report, alleges impropriety when Choudhury was HPCL executive director and later director marketing. Singh alleges that in May 2009 Choudhury allowed a generous 75 day credit period to privately-owned GMR for diesel delivered to its 200-MW Vasavi Basin Bridge power station in Chennai. “On the one hand HPCL is borrowing from the market,” reads the draft petition. “On the other it has given credit to GMR.” Worse, Singh alleges GMR wrongly told power purchaser Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) it was allowed only five days credit by HPCL. “TNEB is a government enterprise and was deprived of 70 days additional credit,” he adds. Also under scrutiny is Choudhury’s appointment of ICICI Bank in 2003 without tender to operate a customer loyalty programme for diesel sales from HPCL pumps. And finally, when others were ignoring Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya, Choudhury inexplicably raised the cash-strapped stricken airline’s credit limit from Rs300cr ($60m) to Rs605cr ($121m). “These charges are an act of desperation from a man (Singh) who was dismissed from HPCL,” Choudhury tells this report. “If they come to court I will fight them.”


NOTE: Ashok Singh alleges that another watchdog body, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), asked HPCL in May 2009 to explain the “undue favour” to GMR Vasavi but that Choudhury’s appointment as company chairman went through nonetheless. Singh also asks how Choudhury could have approved a marketing partnership with ICICI Bank when diesel fuel sales are subsidised by the government. ICICI, he says, earned Rs165cr ($33m) as a result. “HPCL is a public sector undertaking but out of the revenues earned on sale of these (government-subsidised) products it has agreed to share the revenue with a private bank without any public interest,” he says. Singh, 53, is the son-in-law of former Congress Party MP Rana Veer Singh. As HPCL regional manager and president of the Oil Sector Officers’ Association, he was dismissed in March 2009 after the government broke a strike by oil sector officers two months earlier. A lawyer by training, Singh has taken up farming in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh since his dismissal from HPCL.


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R. P. Srivastava
304, AUM SAI Sector-7
Kharghar, Navi Mumbai 410210
Mob. 09820183924 L/L 02227744012
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blog http://raviprakash4354.blogspot.com
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RTI Activist &India Against corruption Coordinator Navi Mumbai

Petro Prcing :A Big Farce

"Articles By Whistleblower & Activist Ravi Srivastava on oil industry and issues which give us the hidden harsh
reality and force us to think more than just normal . We are thankful to him for sharing his articles with us .
Please Share Articles and be part of his fight against corruption."EasytoAct(ETA)
Petro pricing has been a matter of debate for decades there is no transparency in Refining costs, Taxes,
Duties, Margins, cess and other levies the fact is Govt. never intended to make it open for public scrutiny,
a figure of several lakh crores is flashed on TV screens with every price increase, where a few thousand crores
are absorbed by Govt., upstream oil companies and balance is passed on to market to squeeze the defenseless
consumer.Government budgets certain amount recoverable from Public towards Taxes&Duties and the subsidy
is actually the “loss in Profit” by Govt., with every price increase the State Governments , octroi , cess for
Municipalities, Dealer’s commission every one takes his pound of flesh in this official loot.

Murli Deora then Petroleum Minister, 3 years before in a Press conference proudly holding a Bisleri bottle in his
hand says ‘We are selling Kerosene even cheaper then this mineral water “what he did not explain, that whose
money he was draining down the drain , it was our’s, taxpayers hard earned money doled out in the name of
subsidy for below poverty line poor ,who seldom get it.

Petro pricing has been a matter of debate for decades there is no transparency in Refining costs, Taxes, Duties, Margins, cess and other levies the fact is Govt. never intended to make it open for public scrutiny, a figure of several lakh crores is flashed on TV screens with every price increase, where a few thousand crores are absorbed by Govt., upstream oil companies and balance is passed on to market to squeeze the defenseless consumer.Government budgets certain amount recoverable from Public towards Taxes&Duties and the subsidy is actually the “loss in Profit” by Govt., with every price increase the State Governments , octroi , cess for Municipalities, Dealer’s commission every one takes his pound of flesh in this official loot.

Genesis of fuel pricing shows that sometimes in the late eighties while fuel consumption was approx. 55Mt , ONGC, OIL were producing roughly half of country’s requirement , shockingly even after 25 years and sinking few Lakh crores of Rupees crude oil production of ONGC has not exceeded even by 1 Mt andremains stagnant at 27 Mt , resulting into Nation’s50% dependence on imported crude has reduced to 22% and 78% of the crude is imported today eating into precious foreign exchange due to ever volatile Dollar .Nation faces a “crude shock” every passing fortnight for the inefficiency on the part ONGC and policy bankruptcy of Shastri Bhawan Babus .ONGC is projected as a cash rich behemoth and Maharatna courtesy compensation to the company on rising dollars.OIL is smaller culprit who could muster a moderate growth in their production due to smaller base.

As late as in 1998 Govt. used to compensate OMC’s(Oil Marketing Companies) ,a 12% post tax return and fuel prices were fixed by Govt.NDA rule dared to bring much touted deregulation, which gave pricing leverage on paper to OMC’s and physically remained with Minister &Ministry ,Pricing of Lubricant , ATF(Aviation Turbine Fuel), Black oils were left to OMC’s ,who by and large cartelized and insulated themselves from competition, Private players preferred export instead of selling locally due to pricing disadvantage.They did open couple of thousand outlets which eventually closed down . Petrol, diesel, LPG and Kerosene were kept under MDPM(Market determined price mechanism) which remained same except the word “Market” replaced by ‘Minister’or ‘Ministry”.

In fact total pricing freedom to OMC’s in letter &spirit would have diluted the authority of Politicians/Babus of MOP&NG and therefore every increase /reduction in these 4 products have to be blessed by Ministry, who will have privilege to announce it first on camera. OMC’s are used as a fiefdom or a milch cow of Ministry for various services/facilities, favors like provision of Taxies for personal use of babus and their families , organizing trips to exotic locations, use of Guest houses at Major cities , appointing consultants and cut in contracts.In turn ministry protects corrupt Oil company officials from CVC,CBI&CAG .

OMC’s are plagued by 3 serious ailments, Inefficiency, corruption and Bad debts/ wasteful expenditures, OMC’s practically everyday make a hue &cry for under recoveries, fact is they are grossly inefficient ,take the example of Project Management/Capital expenditure .HPCL planned agreen field Refinery at Bhatinda after laying foundation stone 3 times twice by NDA Govt.and once by UPAI, finally the work commenced in 2008, even after missing 2 deadlines and 13 years Refinery is still not on stream , in fact HPCL now has no money to by the Crude .The Project cost escalated 4 times since original DFR(detailed feasibility Report).IOC raising a coastal Refinery at Paradeep for last 7 years with no where completion in sight .Refinery margins are another grey area with oil companies e.g HPCL having a GRM(Gross refining Margin) of barely 30 cents in last quarter from their recently upgraded Vizag Refinery with thousands of crores of capex. OMC’s boast of high turnover and financials which is courtesy increased fuel prices, volume sales have barely registered a growth of average 3.5% y-o-y in last two 5 year plans. The worst part is that despite under recoveries in all 4 products which are consumed by masses and having complete monopoly , OMC’s resort to competition with each other and undercutting which is totally unfair, unethical and undesirable ,since they are compensated by Taxpayers money/National exchequer. OMC’s offer discounts to ICICI, HDFC, CITIBANK, RAILWAYS, DEFENCE which has no logic or reasoning .In existing scenario where “more you sell more you loose” they should resort to “Demand management” and encourage fuel conservation.

Govt. cunningly deregulated the price of Petrol in july 2010 and gave a free hand to OMC’s to raise the prices on one pretext or the other, like crude prices gone up, Rupee weakened vis-a-vis USD or compensating loss on sales of Kerosene, while facts are contrary, In june 2008 when crude hit highest price of 147USD per barrel Petrol was selling for Rs. 51/ltr and now when crude is 110 USD per barrel Petrol is being sold Rs. 75 /ltr. OMC’s misused this leverage continuously for 13 times and finally succumbed to Public/political outcry in the 1st weak of Nov. 2011 to 1stdownward correction of Rs.2,25/ltr. The logistic model of OMC’s is not cost effective and results into cris cross movement of Product .Few years before they tried to sell grocery to Textile at their Retail outlets which flopped miserably. Attempts like HPCL running Retail outlets in Mauritius, and IOC’s operation in Zimbabwe, SriLanka did not add to their bottom line either .The myth that Petrol is rich &effluent class fuel is unfounded , it is consumed by a vast population of Bikers/2 wheelers middle/lower middle class consumers , rich have already switched over to Diesel guzzling SUV’s.

Corruption is rampant in Oil PSU’s and the money is channeled from Sales officer to the Chairman for buying lucrative positions like Regional Manager, General Manger (zones) which are auctioned. There are quite a few avenues for generation of money Viz. Reconstitution of Retail outlets, De-leasing the land of Retail outlets, Adulteration Etc. According to survey more then 70% Retail outlets/Gas agencies have Minister, MP, MLA or corporaters either in ownership or as sleeping partner, bribes are paid for allotment of such outlets/agencies, which are recovered by adulteration or selling Domestic cylinders in black to unauthorized consumers .NCEAR(National Council of Economic& applied Research) have established in their study that 38% of PDS Kerosene is siphoned off for adulteration which is Rs.15000 cr. industry Nation wide(e.g Malegaoncase). Price of Petrol Rs. 72/ltr and Diesel 45/ltr mixed with Kerosene of Rs.13/ltr is a lucrative trade and money generated through this clandestine route is channeled up to Minister/Ministry .Govt. made no sincere attempt to curb adulteration till date except blue dying Kerosene in late Eighties and a recently launched Marker , which proved to be another fraud in CBI enquiry where Marker was purchased for Rs. 13000/ltr from a blacklisted British company Named BIOCODE .Marker was abruptly abandoned in 2008 after the CBI complaint and draining of Rs. 200 cr of Public money and could not be restarted even after 3 years, despite several announcements by Ministers .

Land de-leasing is another oily business HPCL/BPCL inherited large No. of Retail outlets of foreign oil companies like ESSO/CALTEX/BURMA SHELL having land prices fairly low at the time of acquisition however now prices have appreciated multi fold and de leasing the Retail outlet land fetches crores of rupees for owners, ever greedy oil company officials, Politicians fix the deal and company executes it quoting as a “VIP Reference”. Appointment of consultants and Advisors is another source of corruption, within couple months of officer attaining superannuation , he is appointed as Advisor/consultant at hefty compensation with a cut for Top company officials .HPCL alone has at least 20 such retired officers back on their rolls .Appointing foreign consultants like, Gallup, Thomson Associates, Mercer, Arthur D’little, Accenture in the name of improving productivity, Performance evaluation and boosting employee morale have failed in their objective and proved to be employment avenues for the wards of working &retired company & Ministry officials.

Bad debts and infructuous expenditure are another drain on OMCs profits ,IOC has on date Rs1800 cr in principal and 400 cr in interest outstanding fro NACIL, HPCL has Rs. 703 cr.due from beleaguered Kingfisher they claim to have a Bank Guarantee for Rs.300 cr but moot question is whether Bank will honor a Bank Guarantee to a 3rd party or settle their own dues first.IOC has Rs50 cr due from GSRTC for last 14 years. HPCL has sunk approx. 17 cr in a wound up airline Modiluft and a few crores in recent defunct Paramount Airways. The worst part is the chairmen of these companies defend and justify their decisions stating these are calculated risks. There is a popular Joke of 10 oil company officers launching a Oil conservation week each traveling alone in his car, numerous example of wasteful expenditure by OMC’s, recently BPCL spent Rs. 40 Lakhs of taxpayers money for fond farewell of one of their Director and HPCL spending Rs. 19 cr. from their Delhicoordination office on Shastri Bhawan Babus and Parliamentarians for gifting them Novelties , Mementos

The chairmen of oil companies are treated like dirt by Shastri Bhawan Babus , recently IOC/HPCL CMD’s made some statement on increasing Petrol price, they do not realize how soon they will have to eat their words. The solution lies in making Petro pricing transparent and the farce of “Import parity” should be abolished, state taxes rationalized with GST , Kerosene should be market priced and any subsidy can be paid in cash/Bank Account through smart card/Aadhar cards. Black of Domestic cylinders being sold as Non domestic must be stopped forth with , use of Domestic cylinders be limited for households. A rational price mechanism for Petrol& Diesel would provide a much awaited relief to a common man.

.Deora has been shown the door from Petroleum Ministry and Cabinet, all his cronies have been shunted to non descript assignments. Ministry ,instead of working for Ambanies, Ruias, for which CAG has already submitted a scathing report and action will be taken in due course of time, should concentrate on enhancing production of crude oil which is a long term solution ,OMC s should be pulled up to tighten their belts instead of finding excuses.

Ravi Srivastava



"To Know his battle against false Please Follow Tale of Two Whistleblower of HPCL"



Previous Articles : CORRUPTION WATCHDOG 3 C’s , COINCIDANCES, TOO MANY , THE MARK(ER) OF A SCAM-RS.200 cr. FRAUD BY MOP&NG , PUBLIC FUNDING OF A PRIVATE AIRLINE

Friday, October 21, 2011

Hidden Reality : COINCIDANCES, TOO MANY

Hidden Reality : COINCIDANCES, TOO MANY
Wednesday, 05 October 2011 00:38




"Articles By Whistleblower & Activist Ravi Srivastava on dirty oil industry and ssues which give us the hidden harsh reality and force us to think more than just normal . We are thankful to him for sharing articles with us . "ETA

February 2006 UPA I was half way through of their 5 year tenure ,told its fund raisers to fill the coffers swiftly since Elections were approaching, the money spinners of the party likes of Vilas Rao Deshmukh , Ahmed Patel , Murli Deora were assigned the specific roles ,which they have been successfully playing over decades for the Party.

Ministry of Petroleum is one such milch cow for every ruling party Adulteration, Benami Retail outlets , contracts for exploration generate huge black money which is channeled up to Minister& Ministry, till Jan 2006 Ministry was headed by a “spoke in the wheel’ Mani Shankar Aiyar a Top Bureaucrat of yesteryears known for his straight forwardness and fond of calling spade- a- spade, he received sudden marching orders High Command to Panchayati Raj a Non descript Ministry .

Murli deora a known polyester yarn broker fromMumbai and ‘cutting Chai” partner of Industry doyen Late Shri Dhiru bhai Ambani was installed as Petroleum Minister. He was an old guard of congress party but a low key operator since Rajiv Gandhi days and a loving ‘unclejee’ to Anil& Mukesh Ambani. Ambani’s are loved equally by Congress & BJP for their deep pockets and responsible for their rise & rise in India’s industrial map .The specific task cut for Deora was to raise funds at least 1000 Cr from the infamous Business houses for forthcoming Elections.



Deora started with a launch of a fuel marker for checking adulteration, such futile attempts are made by Govt. occasionally to fool & hoodwink the public at large pretending that Govt. is really serious to curb adulteration. In fact adulteration is a real money spinner and Rs. 15000 crore annual racket of oil company/Ministry officials .PDS kerosene destined for poor public is siphoned off in the market for mixing with Petrol and diesel due to substantial delta in price of kerosene vs.Motor fuels , Govt.s own agency NCEAR has admitted in their report that 38% of PDS Kerosene is diverted for mixing in connivance with Transporters/Dealers and unscrupulous State/Central Govt. officials. In the guise of checking adulteration a Rs. 200 cr. Order for a Marker was placed on M/S SGS(Recently being awarded a contract for Roads Audit by Maharashtra Govt.) an Indian agent of Authentix a British company, who were handpicked for shipping Marker into India .SGS started extortion since they were mandated by MOP&NG for checking adulteration on Petrol Pumps, 2 officials of HPCL made a complaint to CBI Mumbai in May 2008 , followed by a PIL in Hon. Mumbai High court, who ordered CBI enquiry in Oct 2008, coincidentally the said Marker was withdrawn by Deora within 2 months i.e w.e.f 1.1.2009,and Rs200 cr. Of tax payers money went down the drain without any control or reduction of rampant adulteration.



Real stakes were in RIL-RNRL case where Hon Mumbai High court ordered in favor of junior Ambani and upheld PSC(Product sharing contract)at the contracted price of Natural Gas $2.8mmscnd, elder Ambani approached the Apex court , suddenly Govt. Realized that natural Gas is a National Asset and not brothers property alone (Govt. did not know it for many years when case was in Mumbai High court) and became an intervener in the case .MOP&NG filed an affidavit in Apex court in july 2009 supporting elder Ambani’s claim. In the meantime Elections concluded and appropriately funded UPAII came into existence. Deora was quickly reinstalled as Petroleum Minister since it was a payback time for funds collected , coincidently the EGOM comprising of Deora, Shinde, Pranab also approved the price of Natural gas at $ 4.2 mmscnd, which was 150% of original price of $2.8mmscnd , such enhanced price was to benefit RIL , by Rs. 30000 cr. in next 5 years, for justification DGH ( Director General of Hydrocarbons)V.K.Sibbal’s approval for GOLD PLATING of Reliance’s capital expenditure from original estimate of Rs. 8000 cr enhanced to Rs. 44,000 cr was accepted .Sibbal was removed in Oct 2009 after enquiry into his daughter accepting white goods from Reliance officials (intercepted emails) and a Flat .There were heated allegations of serious irregularities by Junior Ambani against MOP&NG in 2009, published on the front page of Economic Times.



By an extended coincidence K.G.Balakrishnan the CJ of Apex court pronounced judgment in favor of elder Amabni and approved the price of $4.2 mmscnd within 5 days after order he was appointed as NHRC Chairman (cabinet Rank)w.e.f 11.5.2010 immediately after his superannuation

Last but not the least coincidence is that Deora has been removed as Petroleum Minister in Jan 2011and from the cabinet in july this year, for consolation his son made an insignificant Mos for retaining a roof in Delhi and to prevent his marginalization in Politics. Then Petroleum secy,Joint Secretaries have been shunted to non descript Ministries Sibbal facing CBI charge sheet in approving enhanced capex.CAG has filed a scathing report against misdeeds of Deora and his cronies in KG Basin case .K.G.Balakrishnan is facing enquiries of manipulation in Land deals by his kins and relatives, Reliance’s Natural Gas production has reduced to half then projected and its share price plummeted more the 25% till last month.



Ravi Srivastava





"To Know his battle against false Please Follow Tale of Two Whistleblower of HPCL"



Previous Articles : THE MARK(ER) OF A SCAM-RS.200 cr. FRAUD BY MOP&NG , PUBLIC FUNDING OF A PRIVATE AIRLINE





About Author


Whistleblower , Activist & Indian Against Corruption active volunteer .

I R.P.SRIVASTAVA, 56 year old ,male Graduated in Science and Chemical Technology in the year 1975, after an stint of 1 year at Eicher Tractors and 6 years in Kansai Nerolac(erstwhile Goodlass Nerolac), I joined HPCL in 1982 as an Operations Officer in Grade ‘A’.

"I am a crusader against corruption , corruption which destroyed my life exposed Rs. 200 cr. corruption in Petroleum industry Marker system invited the wrath of Murli Deora his sychphant beaurocrats , chairman of the company who promptly dismissed me from service to appease their boss"

Please Read " Tale of Two Whistleblower of HPCL to know more.....

R. P. Srivastava
ravi4354@gmail.com
304, AUM SAI Sector-7
Kharghar, Navi Mumbai 410210
Mob- 09820183924 L/L 02227744012
India Against corruption Activist and Volunteer from Navi Mumbai
My Blog http://raviprakash4354.blogspot.com
Contact Me if you want to join me in the fight .Because people support can make huge difference .

Hidden Reality : CORRUPTION WATCHDOG 3 C’s

Home More Articles Hidden Reality : CORRUPTION WATCHDOG 3 C’s
Hidden Reality : CORRUPTION WATCHDOG 3 C’s
Friday, 14 October 2011 21:22

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"Articles By Whistleblower & Activist Ravi Srivastava on dirty oil industry and ssues which give us thehidden harsh reality and force us to think more than just normal . We are thankful to him for sharing articles with us . "ETA

"CAG is a classic example that how a defunct body can redeem itself , for 5o years CAG was an ordinary Govt. Auditor, whose job is to keep an eye on utilization of Public exchequer by Public Authorities .They normally station their Auditors in Govt. companies as Resident/Govt. Auditor and have office in company’s corporate offices only. Lakhs of pages of report gather dust since the job of agency is to discover, examine the misuse of Public money and report to Govt. who will in turn hand it over to various standing committees of Parliamentarians who make visit to Public sector undertakings , stay in 5 star hotels at Hill stations or Beach resorts on account of Public sector undertakings only along with their spouses sometimes .Finally no action on such voluminous reports are taken and destines to archives"

Team Anna’s Jan lok pal bill which has become a bone of contention between the Government and Civil society had approximately 13 issues of mismatch , out of which one contentious issue is to make the CVC, CBI&CAG independent , perception is that Government is scared of passing too much of Powers to the Jan Lok Pal and intends to dilute the provisions of the Bill in such a manner that even if a Public Servant is caught enough escape route is made available to defend himself .

The fear in the minds of Politicians, Babu’s is that in the very first tenure of 2 years of installing Jan Lok pal , more then half of the Ministers and similar proportion of Babu’s will be either sacked or land in Jail.



Subsequent paras will deal with the 3 dreaded C’s of Govt. feared by Public servants and how effectively these are managed and compromised so that they remain unscathed. These 3 are Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Central Bureau of investigation(CBI) and Central Vigilance Commission(CVC), all 3 have constitutionally appointed heads chosen by the PM, Leader of Opposition , HM from serving or superannuated Babu’s including IRS, IPS officers, by virtue of their inherent love , affection , empathy for their brethren , even if a case is made, it is diluted in such a way that the Elevation , posting , assignment and benefits of the serving bureaucrat remain unaffected/protected, take the example of Thomas who was appointed CVC despite Charge sheet against him and finally Apex court had to null his appointment.

Modus operandi for such appointments is suppose a CPSU(Central Public Sector Undertaking) Director aspiring to become Chairman and having a case against him , he will swiftly depute a company official (All oustation based CPSUs have a Delhi Coordination office)to keep a close liaison with CVC , such officers are almost Dalal’s/Fixers in the capital for respective CPSU’s/Deptt, his file is tracked on day to day basis, such coordination offices have agents in the guise of consultants in the parliament, Ministry , CBI and have crores of Rupees of Unaudited Budget at their disposal, such agents ensure that the pending case is closed before, CVC nod for appointment is given. Such clearances are also essential before releasing Pension, Benefits of retiring PSU Board level executives or their elevation in the Organization.

CVC though called a ‘Watchdog’ and has even superintending powers over CBI , factually it is not even Stray/street dog , leave aside biting , it does not even bark for a simple reason that it is paid established and controlled by the same Govt, whose servants it has to Act against, and therefore it has no option but to wag its tail before its masters. Second handicap is its understaffing ,barely 37 officers manning all the crucial departments , CVC appoints more then 250 CVO’s in CPSU’s and Govt. departments like Railways, Income Tax, some of these have Lakhs of employees working in those establishments .CVC officials have admitted that they are not more then a Post Office, which receives the complaint from Public, Employees against Public Servants and in turn forwards it to the same company for investigating and taking action against their own erring officials, In the process if the complainant is a “Whistle blower” from the same Organization his identity and complaint both are fully compromised and he is thrown before the ‘wolves’ of the Organization to have a field day.

CVC’s powers are recommendatory, its recommendations are passed through the concerned Ministry’s vigilance and finally to the Chairman or Deptt. Head who decides whether he concurs with the recommendation or dilutes it e.g if CVC recommends demotion , the deptt will reduce it to stoppage of increments, if CVC recommends termination, he will be suspended and so on.

Departmental CVO’s are a defunct lot, they consider PSU assignment as a “Parking slot” before their next time scale promotion and enjoy all the privileges, perquisites, benefits of the Government company, distinctly recall one Principal Accountant General appointed as CVO of HPCL he was selling his Books to company officials and company was sponsoring his CD’s of Yoga exercises. Such privileges these CVO’s IRS, IPS officers would have never enjoyed in their parent cadres where they will be stuffed in a 2Room flat inDhaula kuan or R.K.Puram in capital e.g once he gets assigned as CVO in Bharat Petroleum Bombay he gets a 4 BHK bunglow with company car, fully Air-conditioned office and Residence, Normally these officers use these postings as “Picnic”, neither they have any attachment with company’s performance nor have any intention to curb prevailing corruption .Such CVO’S confine themselves to mere preaching during Vigilance awareness week (a ritual in the first week of November every year)and quietly move out after completing tenure of 2-3 years.

Another farce is that CVO’s functionally report to CVC but administratively report to Chairman or HOD of the deptt, if any complaint against any company employee is received, CVO takes it to Chairman and bargains for some additional benefit for himself else he threatens the chairman to expose his wrong doings end result remains that “I scratch your back you scratch mine”

If any employee directly reports corruption to CVC /CBI the complaint is forwarded to the respective CVO and in the process his identity is exposed/compromised with the same people against whom he had complained.There is no punishment anywhere in the world for making a complaint but such “thorny’ individual is treated as an “eyesore” in the organization and a threat to a well oiled institutionalized corrupt system prevailing in the very organization .All people in Authority pounce upon him and try to implicate him in some frivolous disciplinary cases with the sole objective of easing him out from the organization in the first available opportunity.

Less said the better about functioning of CBI which is rechristened as Criminal bureau of investigation or congress bureau of Investigation, whose primary function is to “book” the people , who are against the ruling party and “release” or give the “clean chit” to those who belong to ruling party, objective of this agency is not to conclude the case(as far as possible) and drag it indefinitely to facilitate retirement of the guilty Public servant .Apex court has fired the agency hundred of times for their Partisan, enquiries .It has got its own courts, prosecuting machinery but it is a fact that 90% of the cases fall flat in the courts because of shoddy investigation or weak prosecution.

CAG is a classic example that how a defunct body can redeem itself , for 5o years CAG was an ordinary Govt. Auditor, whose job is to keep an eye on utilization of Public exchequer by Public Authorities .They normally station their Auditors in Govt. companies as Resident/Govt. Auditor and have office in company’s corporate offices only. Lakhs of pages of report gather dust since the job of agency is to discover, examine the misuse of Public money and report to Govt. who will in turn hand it over to various standing committees of Parliamentarians who make visit to Public sector undertakings , stay in 5 star hotels at Hill stations or Beach resorts on account of Public sector undertakings only along with their spouses sometimes .Finally no action on such voluminous reports are taken and destines to archives

It is first time since independence that this body has unearthed a Rs. 1.76 Lakh cr. 2G scam, MOP&NG’s RIL’s KG Basin scam(quantum of Public money plundered is yet to be established), nevertheless this agency has at least shown the courage of exposing their masters which must be applauded.

To conclude it is a very legitimate demand from TEAM ANNA that all these 3 agencies must be made to report Jan Lok Pal (CBI’s only Anti corruption wing), the live example is Apex court monitored probe into 2G scam which has sent 16 Ministers, Parliamentarians and corporate honchos behind the bars of Tihar Jail.

Long Live Jan Lok Pal



Ravi Srivastava

HPCL’s Delhi office lists Rs19 crore expenses on gifts, flowers, jewellery, a lot of it on parliamentarians

HPCL’s Delhi office lists Rs19 crore expenses on gifts, flowers, jewellery, a lot of it on parliamentarians
Published on Oct 19 2011 // BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, Delhi, India, LATEST NEWS, Maharashtra, Photo Show, slideshow


dilhi : Moneylife Digital Team
Much of this apparently unaccounted expenditure has been incurred on visits of parliamentary committee members, who are in fact forbidden by protocol from receiving gifts

At a time when Hindustan Petroleum is said to have a lot of money blocked in dues from airlines and other big businesses, it looks like the oil distributor is spending a lot on some inexplicable items.

Ledger entries for Hindustan Petroleum’s Delhi coordination office account reveal that the Navratna company has spent substantial amounts on hotel bills, gifts, flowers and jewellery. Since 2006, about Rs19 crore has been spent on such items. In 2010-11 alone, the company’s Delhi office spent some Rs1.28 crore on this account.

Repeated phone calls and an email message to the HPCL spokesperson did not yield any response.

A major part of the expenses are attributed to visits by member of parliamentary committees. According to parliament rules, such committee members are entitled to stay at government guest houses and they are paid travel and other allowances, so it is unclear why HPCL, a public sector unit, is bearing the expenses of these members.

Apart from travel and accommodation expenses, the HPCL office also lists expenses on gifts, shawls, mementoes and lunch for these committee members.

In 2010-11, expenses on such gifts totalled Rs51,510 and some shawls were bought at a cost of Rs7,396, as per entries on 17 and 27 January 2011.

There are also other entries like Rs93,000 worth of mementoes for parliamentary members on 12 January 2011 and Rs12,040 for “parliamentary committee expenses” on 11 Februray 2011. In fact, protocol forbids giving or receiving of such gifts by parliamentarians.

Another large amount has been paid for taxi bills and the money is debited against the names of various individuals. More than Rs1 lakh was paid towards the stay of some executive at Mumbai’s Trident Hotel in 2009.

Ravi Srivastava, former sales manager, HPCL, who lost his job after blowing the whistle on the adulterant marker case (read, “Hindustan Petroleum whistleblowers not reinstated even a year after HC order), has alleged that it is likely the expenses shown have been appropriated by some HPCL staff.

“Some of the names against which expenses are mentioned are employees of HPCL. Why do you want to pay money to your own employees outside their salary,” Mr Srivastava asked.

He said this was an indication that money was being swindled after showing some bogus expenditure entries on paper. “And why should a PSU gift shawls and mementoes to members of expert committees, when they are subsidised by the government itself,” he said.

Mr Srivastava believed that such swindling was possible at the Delhi office as there are no checks on expenses there. “In HPCL’s other offices, accounts have to be audited, and there is strict surveillance. So the people who want to make some additional money do it through the Delhi office where such expenditure is not checked.”

HPCL oil refinery: Bombay HC raps government, BMC

HPCL oil refinery: Bombay HC raps government, BMC
Published: Tuesday, Oct 18, 2011, 22:14 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA


The Bombay high court rapped the Maharashtra government and the Brihanmumbai municipal Corporation (BMC) for failing to consider public health and safety concerns around the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) before granting permission to construct a residential-cum-commercial complex adjoining the refinery.

A division bench of justice PB Majmudar and justice RM Sawant continued the stay on the construction by Oswal Agro Mills Limited, which purchased the factory earlier owned by Union Carbide.

"Government mechanically permitted conversion from industrial zone to commercial zone in which even residential construction are also permitted… Public health and safety should be of paramount importance and should not be made a casualty of by the state government and the (municipal) corporation," observed the bench while asking the BMC, government and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to file its reply.

Justice Majmudar further remarked: "The government has not applied its mind before converting the land to commercial zone. It is unfortunate that even after incidents like Bhopal gas tragedy, the government has failed to consider vital aspects of safety and security. If tomorrow some untoward incident takes place who is to take responsibility."

The court was hearing a petition filed by HPCL stating that a residential-cum-commercial project in the vicinity of their refinery not only poses threat to their installations but also the residents would be at risk because of the fumes from their refinery.
Fredun DeVitre, HPCL's counsel, pointed out a report by the Intelligence Bureau stating that post 26/11 terror attacks wherein sea route was used, there was heightened security threat to oil installations.

Priti Purandare, advocate for BMC, argued that they sanctioned the plans of Oswal since the government granted permission as per the amendment in the Development Control Regulations (DCR) and converting the area from I-3 (industrial zone) to commercial zone.

The court observed: "It cannot be of dispute that the refinery is of hazardous activity and untoward incident may occur. Surprisingly the state government did not consider this aspect while modifying the DCR and converting it to commercial zone."

Janak Dwarkadas, counsels for Oswal, argued that they have taken the necessary permission from all the concerned authorities before commencing construction.

"In February, a meeting was called of all the concerned parties, where HPCL was also present. They were given the option of acquiring the plot of Union Carbide too if they considered it to be a threat to their installations. They were to inform within 15 days, however, they never replied," argued Dwarkadas.

As per the DCR a buffer of 500 meters has to be kept from the refinery. HPCL itself has a plot which is not developed. The plot falls between the refinery and the construction by Oswal. "They can leave 500 meters free over there. They can't ask us not to construct in the vicinity," added Dwarkadas.

The court also reprimanded the HPCL for delay on their part for acting on the matter. Justice Majmudar remarked: "You (HPCL) should have taken action then instead your officers waited till construction began. There is no doubt that prima facie your officers are also involved. Officers should have been vigilant."

DeVitre argued that it got sanction to approach the court only in February this year. He added that the chairman of HPCL would look into why officers did not report the matter immediately and would initiate enquiry if required.

The court has directed the government, BMC and MPCB to file their reply by November 15 and kept the petition for hearing on November 21.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

An article on misdeeds of UPA in Petroleum sector

An article on misdeeds of UPA in Petroleum sector, my contact details are in signature

COINCIDANCES,TOO MANY

February 2006 UPA I was half way through of their 5 year tenure ,told its fund raisers to fill the coffers swiftly since Elections were approaching, the money spinners of the party likes of Vilas Rao Deshmukh , Ahmed Patel , Murli Deora were assigned the specific roles ,which they have been successfully playing over decades for the Party.
Ministry of Petroleum is one such milch cow for every ruling party Adulteration, Benami Retail outlets , contracts for exploration generate huge black money which is channeled up to Minister& Ministry, till Jan 2006 Ministry was headed by a “spoke in the wheel’ Mani Shankar Aiyar a Top Bureaucrat of yesteryears known for his straight forwardness and fond of calling spade- a- spade, he received sudden marching orders High Command to Panchayati Raj a Non descript Ministry .Murli deora a known polyester yarn broker from Mumbai and ‘cutting Chai” partner of Industry doyen Late Shri Dhiru bhai Ambani was installed as Petroleum Minister. He was an old guard of congress party but a low key operator since Rajiv Gandhi days and a loving ‘unclejee’ to Anil& Mukesh Ambani. Ambani’s are loved equally by Congress & BJP for their deep pockets and responsible for their rise & rise in India’s industrial map .The specific task cut for Deora was to raise funds at least 1000 Cr from the infamous Business houses for forthcoming Elections.
Deora started with a launch of a fuel marker for checking adulteration, such futile attempts are made by Govt. occasionally to fool & hoodwink the public at large pretending that Govt. is really serious to curb adulteration. In fact adulteration is a real money spinner and Rs. 15000 crore annual racket of oil company/Ministry officials .PDS kerosene destined for poor public is siphoned off in the market for mixing with Petrol and diesel due to substantial delta in price of kerosene vs.Motor fuels , Govt.s own agency NCEAR has admitted in their report that 38% of PDS Kerosene is diverted for mixing in connivance with Transporters/Dealers and unscrupulous State/Central Govt. officials. In the guise of checking adulteration a Rs. 200 cr. Order for a Marker was placed on M/S SGS(Recently being awarded a contract for Roads Audit by Maharashtra Govt.) an Indian agent of Authentix a British company, who were handpicked for shipping Marker into India .SGS started extortion since they were mandated by MOP&NG for checking adulteration on Petrol Pumps, 2 officials of HPCL made a complaint to CBI Mumbai in May 2008 , followed by a PIL in Hon. Mumbai High court, who ordered CBI enquiry in Oct 2008, coincidentally the said Marker was withdrawn by Deora within 2 months i.e w.e.f 1.1.2009,and Rs200 cr. Of tax payers money went down the drain without any control or reduction of rampant adulteration.

Real stakes were in RIL-RNRL case where Hon Mumbai High court ordered in favor of junior Ambani and upheld PSC(Product sharing contract)at the contracted price of Natural Gas $2.8mmscnd, elder Ambani approached the Apex court , suddenly Govt. Realized that natural Gas is a National Asset and not brothers property alone (Govt. did not know it for many years when case was in Mumbai High court) and became an intervener in the case .MOP&NG filed an affidavit in Apex court in july 2009 supporting elder Ambani’s claim. In the meantime Elections concluded and appropriately funded UPAII came into existence. Deora was quickly reinstalled as Petroleum Minister since it was a payback time for funds collected , coincidently the EGOM comprising of Deora, Shinde, Pranab also approved the price of Natural gas at $ 4.2 mmscnd, which was 150% of original price of $2.8mmscnd , such enhanced price was to benefit RIL , by Rs. 30000 cr. in next 5 years, for justification DGH ( Director General of Hydrocarbons)V.K.Sibbal’s approval for GOLD PLATING of Reliance’s capital expenditure from original estimate of Rs. 8000 cr enhanced to Rs. 44,000 cr was accepted .Sibbal was removed in Oct 2009 after enquiry into his daughter accepting white goods from Reliance officials (intercepted emails) and a Flat .There were heated allegations of serious irregularities by Junior Ambani against MOP&NG in 2009, published on the front page of Economic Times.

By an extended coincidence K.G.Balakrishnan the CJ of Apex court pronounced judgment in favor of elder Amabni and approved the price of $4.2 mmscnd within 5 days after order he was appointed as NHRC Chairman (cabinet Rank)w.e.f 11.5.2010 immediately after his superannuation
Last but not the least coincidence is that Deora has been removed as Petroleum Minister in Jan 2011and from the cabinet in july this year, for consolation his son made an insignificant Mos for retaining a roof in Delhi and to prevent his marginalization in Politics. Then Petroleum secy,Joint Secretaries have been shunted to non descript Ministries Sibbal facing CBI charge sheet in approving enhanced capex.CAG has filed a scathing report against misdeeds of Deora and his cronies in KG Basin case .K.G.Balakrishnan is facing enquiries of manipulation in Land deals by his kins and relatives, Reliance’s Natural Gas production has reduced to half then projected and its share price plummeted more the 25% till last month.

About Author
R. P. Srivastava
304, AUM SAI Sector-7
Kharghar, Navi Mumbai 410210
Mob. 09820183924 L/L 02227744012

Monday, September 5, 2011

http://www.bureaucracytoday.com/Corporate_watch_sep_11.html

http://www.bureaucracytoday.com/Corporate_watch_sep_11.html

PUBLIC FUNDING OF A PRIVATE AIRLINE
This is an open secret that majority of the Indian corporate do their business with Public Money , may it be in the form of Equity , Bank Loans and that’s the reason that in “India Industry goes sick’ and not the Industrialist ,here is a classic case , where the Private Airline has blatantly used the Public Money of Govt. owned oil Marketing companies (OMC’s) , IOC, BPC& HPC in the form of inordinately extended credit of large sums ranging Rs. 400-600 crores
Approx. 40% of any Airline’s operational cost consists of fuel purchases of ATF(Aviation Turbine Fuel)and 98% of the ATF is sold by OMC’s .Though NACIL(Air India) is a big buyer of ATF from IOC and credit sometimes exceeds to Rs. 900 -1000 crores but then there is a sovereign guarantee of Govt. of India. However M/S Kingfisher Airline(KFA) owned by famous Vijay Mallya were buying ATF from IOC and defaulted on payment IOC promptly stopped the ATF supplies and revoked the bank Guarantee of KFA .KFA switched over to BPC for fuel supplies and there also credit exceeded to Rs. 290 cr. and BPC approached Hon’ble Mumbai high court for recovery of their outstanding in late 2009 later BPC reached an out of court settlement where KFA agreed to clear their outstanding with interest by paying an installment Rs. 10 crore per month. It is reliably understood that in Nov. 2010 , BPC has again contemplated for revoking the settlement , since KFA has not settled dues with them.
After dispute with IOC/BPC, KFA resorted to ATF purchases from HPC who merrily started offering ATF on credit , KFA was buying approx. Rs 115 cr. of ATF every month and repeatedly defaulted on payment and outstanding accumulated Rs. 603crores in the month of March 2010. Suddenly MOP&NG who have the Govt. directors on OMC boards woke from the deep slumber (They are supposed to monitor OMC credit situation on fortnightly basis) and advised HPCL to stop supplies to KFA on 16th March .In fact HPCL did not even had a Bank Guarantee but only a corporate Guarantee from UB group , which has no legal sanctity.
On 30th march HPCL Board was advised to invoke the Corporate Guarantee to recover overdue payments , remove DGM aviation forthwith and give ATF to KFA against cash& carry only .later HPCL extended the period up to June 2010 and finally up to July 2010 to synchronize it with the retirement of then chairman HPCL who retired on 31.7.2010. A CVC complaint for this unauthorized credit is already registered No. 1605/09/6 Dt 11.11.2009 and for which CVO HPCL has already submitted his report to CVC on 24.6.2010.No action against any erring officer has been taken till date, while present Chairman HPCL has admitted in AGM on 16.9.2010 that Rs. 240 crore are still overdue from KFA.
In turn extending this un authorized credit , HPCL Top Management has received host of favors from KFA in cash and kind, like multiple mileage points(Return ticket DEL-MUM purchased for Rs. 34000, which is ordinarily available for Rs. 10000), upgrade to business class, access to lounge , free tickets. A RTI to this effect has not been responded by HPCL.
This is shocking that Industrialist like Vijay Mallya print semi nude calendars, buying cricket teams, Racing horses with our hard earned tax payers money.




--

Sunday, July 24, 2011

PUBLIC FUNDING OF A PRIVATE AIRLINE

by Ravi Srivastava on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 4:46pm
This is an open secret that majority of the Indian corporate do their business with Public Money , may it be in the form of Equity , Bank Loans and that’s the reason that in India “ Industry goes sick’ and not the Industrialist ,here is a classic case , where the Private Airline has blatantly misused the Public Money of Govt. owned oil Marketing companies (OMC’s) , IOC, BPC& HPC in the form of inordinately extended credit of large sums ranging Rs. 400-700 crores
Approx. 40% of any Airline’s operational cost consists of fuel purchases of ATF(Aviation Turbine Fuel)and 98% of the ATF is sold by OMC’s .Though NACIL(Air India) is a big buyer of ATF from IOC and credit sometimes exceeds to Rs. 900 -1000 crores but then there is a sovereign guarantee of Govt. of India. However M/S Kingfisher Airline(KFA) owned by famous Vijay Mallya were buying ATF from IOC and defaulted on payment IOC promptly stopped the ATF supplies and revoked the bank Guarantee of KFA in 2008 later a meeting was convened in MOP&NG attended by 2, ministers Murli Deora & Praful Patel apart from bureaucrats and they forced OMC’s to continue give ATF on credit and extend it equivalent up to 2 months credit.KFA switched over to BPC for fuel supplies and there also credit exceeded to Rs. 290 cr. , BPC approached Hon’ble Mumbai high court for recovery of their outstanding in late 2009 later BPC reached an “out of court” settlement where KFA agreed to clear their outstanding with interest by paying an installment Rs. 10 crore per month. It is reliably understood that in Nov. 2010 , BPC has again contemplated for revoking the settlement , since KFA has not settled entire dues dues with them.
After dispute with IOC/BPC, KFA resorted to entire ATF purchases from HPC who merrily started offering ATF on credit , KFA was buying approx. Rs 115 cr. of ATF every month and repeatedly defaulted on payment and outstanding accumulated Rs. 603crores in the month of March 2010. Suddenly MOP&NG who have the Govt. directors on OMC boards woke from the deep slumber (They are supposed to monitor OMC credit situation on fortnightly basis) and advised HPCL to stop supplies to KFA on 16th March .In fact HPCL did not even had a Bank Guarantee but only a corporate Guarantee from UB group , which has no legal sanctity.
On 30th march HPCL Board was advised to invoke the Corporate Guarantee to recover overdue payments , remove DGM aviation forthwith and give ATF to KFA against cash& carry only ,subsequently HPCL extended the period up to June 2010 and finally up to July 2010 to synchronize it with the retirement of then chairman HPCL Arun Balakrishnan, who retired on 31.7.2010. A CVC complaint for this unauthorized credit is already registered No. 1605/09/6 Dt 11.11.2009 and for which CVO HPCL has already submitted his report to CVC on 24.6.2010.No action against any erring officer has been taken till date, while present Chairman HPCL has admitted in AGM on 16.9.2010 that Rs. 240 crore are still overdue from KFA.
In turn extending this un authorized credit , HPCL Top Management has received host of favors from KFA in cash and kind, like multiple mileage points(Return ticket DEL-MUM purchased for Rs. 34000, which is ordinarily available for Rs. 10000), upgrade to business class, access to lounge , free tickets for Executive Directors and above of HPCL. A RTI to this effect has not been responded by HPCL.
The story continues in Nov. 2010 IDBI recalled their loan of Rs. 750 cr. KFA repeated the same old story of debt restructuring which they were doing since Aug. 2010, By March 2011HPCL the outstanding of HPCL touched Rs. 558 cr. This was exceeding by Rs. 300 cr. The credit limit fixed by HPCL , since HPCl was closing their annual accounts they asked KFA to clear the over due amount of RS. 258 Cr. KFA gave a cheque of Rs. 200 cr. Dt. 31.3.2011 only to get it bounced on 4.4.2011., by April KFA outstanding touched Rs. 602 cr. And finally Rs. 702.88 on 18.7.2011 , while HPCL threatened to stop fuelling KFA flights at Delhi and Mumbai , which 402.88 cr above its ‘so called’ cr. Limit of Rs. 300 cr( equivalent to 2 months current upliftment).As per HPCL’s own systems any supply above cr. Limit has to be authenticated by SBU Head which clearly shows a nexus of HPCL-KFA .
The Govt. raises fuel price every now then , but a blatant loot of public money is going on unabated which proves that the drama of Govt. “under recoveries ‘ is big farce and how a Private Airline is manipulating the Govt. Oil company in connivance with its officials
This is shocking that Industrialist like Vijay Mallya the King of Good Times and a Rajya Sabha MP can print semi nude calendars, buying cricket teams, Racing horses with our hard earned tax payers money.


R. P. Srivastava

UB Holding gets breather to clear Kingfisher’s debt

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has let off Vijay Mallya’s United
Breweries Holding Ltd from immediately clearing the outstanding Rs 602.05
crore owed by Kingfisher Airlines against supply of ATF. At an special
meting convened on Tuesday, the HPCL board gave three months to UBHL to
clear the debt owed by its subsidiary Kingfisher and move to a
cash-and-carry scheme from July 1.

Earlier this month, the petroleum ministry had asked state-run HPCL to call
a special board meeting and invoke UBHL’s corporate guarantee on behalf of
Kingfisher. UBHL had issued a corporate guarantee of Rs 500 crore that
matures end-March 2011.

It had asked HPCL to place Kingfisher immediately on cash-and-carry terms
as is done by other state-run firms — Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum
Corporation Ltd — since early 2009. But the HPCL board felt that the airline
was recovering from the downturn and argued that it would be able to
partially repay the debt in the next three months with Rs 250 crore kept
outstanding as a bank guarantee instead of corporate guarantee.

It cited a recent payment of Rs 50 crore and a pledge by Kingfisher to pay
another Rs 50 crore by April 10 to convince the government and non-official
directors to wait awhile before pulling the reins. As per the board’s
decision, Kingfisher would be asked to pay more each month so as to adjust
half of the received money towards outstanding dues and half towards current
ATF supplies. Kingfisher buys nearly Rs 115 crore worth of ATF from HPCL
each month.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ub-holding-gets-breather-to-clear-k...

http://oneclick.indiatimes.com/article/074i1Zn0stdYV?q=Kingfisher+Air...

HPCL asked to invoke corporate guarantee against KingfisherSPECIAL
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The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has asked Hindustan Petroleum
Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) to invoke the corporate guarantee given by the Vijay
Mallya's United Breweries (UB) Group to recover dues pending against
Kingfisher Airlines and supply aviation turbine fuel (ATF) in future only
against a bank guarantee.

In a letter to HPCL, the Ministry has asked the company to convene a
‘special board meeting' to consider among other things invoking UB Group's
Rs.250-crore corporate guarantee to recover part of Rs.602.05-crore
outstanding. The outstandings were reported to be Rs.602.05 crore on March 4
with a security in the form of Rs.250 crore corporate guarantee from United
Breweries and Holding Ltd (UBHL),'' the letter states. It asked HPCL to
place KFA on cash-and-carry terms as is done by Indian Oil Corporation and
Bharat Petroleum Corporation. Petroleum Ministry sources said normally ATF
supplies like any other fuel sold in bulk were done against a bank guarantee
to cover for the credit period. However, in the case of KFA, HPCL did not
insist on a bank guarantee and settled for a corporate guarantee, which the
Ministry felt, mighty be a worthless piece of paper that might not be
encashed in case of default, the sources said. UBHL had last week issued a
corporate guarantee of Rs.500-crore but the Ministry was unimpressed and was
insisting on a bank guarantee. The Ministry also wants HPCL to adjust 50 per
cent of the money received from KFA in future towards outstanding dues and
50 per cent towards current ATF supplies.

http://beta.thehindu.com/business/companies/article304773.ece

Enquiry HPCL by CVC Zee News 05042010.mp4
1570K View Download

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Hindustan Petroleum whistleblowers not reinstated even a year after HC order June 16, 2011 06:24 PM |

Hindustan Petroleum whistleblowers not reinstated even a year after HC order
June 16, 2011 06:24 PM |
Moneylife Digital Team
No one held guilty in the faulty petroleum adulterant marker case

Moneylife recently reported about the plight of a whistleblower, who took on Indian Oil Corporation, but has not been compensated fully despite a judicial victory. He is not alone, though. Whistleblowers at Hindustan Petroleum, after almost a year, are still similarly unemployed and their plight ignored.

In August 2010, the Bombay High Court upheld the complaint made against the authenticity of an adulterant marker, which the government had purchased at extraordinarily high rates from a UK firm. HPCL officials Ravi Srivastava and Ashok Singh lost their jobs in 2008, when they blew the lid on the issue. Though the court order vindicated their stand, they have neither been compensated financially, nor reinstated in their jobs.

A message from Moneylife to HPCL on this issue has not been answered.

"We are still without jobs," said Mr Srivastava, "just doing some work with some consultants here and there. No compensation, no prestige." To add insult to injury, in November 2010 Mr Srivastava's RTI query to the oil ministry about the status of the Authentix marker revealed that 'the inquiry is still in progress'.

"It has been proved that this adulterant marker could be easily tampered. The CBI has also registered a case against MS Srinivasan, the then secretary in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, Authentix and their Indian agent SGS, and several officials from oil companies like Bharat Petroleum, HPCL and Indian Oil. What is left to be proved," Mr Srivastava asked.

A marker is a coloured chemical, which if added to substances like kerosene or naptha, can be visually detected if these are mixed with petroleum for adulteration. The government, in order to stop massive adulteration by addition of kerosene allocated to PDS, asked all oil companies to add a supposedly infallible marker from Authentix in kerosene and other cheap fuels in 2006.

Mr Srivastava and his colleague were serving as treasurer and president of the Oil Sector Officers' Association (OSOA), when in May 2008 they received complaints from various corners that there were 'serious irregularities in procurement, specification and implementation' of the policy on this particular marker.

The officers investigated the matter, and discovered that the marker could be got rid of easily with clay and other ordinary lab chemicals. A website named Indianpetro.com conducted a survey at several petrol pumps, depots and oil-cargo ferries, and concluded that the marker had fared pretty badly. The government had also struck a benevolent deal with Authentix, via their Indian agents SGS, and the marker was purchased at Rs13,000 per litre without any chemical specifications. No wonder, Authentix listed the deal as the "largest fuel adulterant marking contract in history" on their website.

When they pointed out the flaws with the marker, Mr Singh was fired first, and Mr Srivastava was stripped of all facilities, accommodation and perquisites. Later, when the officers protested against the arbitrary appointment of a non-employee to a high position, Mr Srivastava was accused of 'instigating other officers' and fired from his job.

In 2008, the duo approached the chief vigilance commissioner, who refused to grant them protection as whistleblowers, treating them as ordinary complainants. A year later, CNN-IBN reported their story and exposed Authentix's dubious reputation abroad. In April 2010, Simpreet Singh, activist, filed a writ petition against the oil ministry's extravagant favour granted to Authentix. During the hearing, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also released a report that showed there were many lapses in the process, and that the government had awarded the contract to Authentix without inviting a global tender.

The Bombay High Court upheld the whistleblowers' complaints. However, they received no compensation. "Neither Murli Deora who was the minister then, nor other government officials, nor the companies were punished. And, the inquiry on Authentix marker is still 'in progress'. Why would anyone risk their necks to point out discrepancies then," he said.

Fuel adulteration has reached worrying proportions, and the oil mafia has got more entrenched. In January, Yashwant Sonawane, additional collector, was burnt alive when he tried to investigate an instance of fuel theft. If the government chooses to ignore the calls from within the industry and does not protect the whistleblowers, the perils will intensify.
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show details Jun 25 (4 days ago)
Petro Intelligence » For Whom The Bell Tolls
A sudden burst of aggressive investigation into the deep-seated cartels and cabals has led to mind-boggling estimates of the extent of corruption that has eaten into the vitals of governing institutions and sparked a public outcry against the perpetrators of large-scale shenanigans.

The empire is finally striking back.

People of great influence – who have fattened their coffers for years on the basis of power, privilege, and pelf – have been hurled into a grimy prison and forced to confront the fate of common felons. Their fall from grace has been as sudden as it has been ignominious.

The investigators first exposed the scandalous wheeling-dealing in sporting events like cricket and the commonwealth games. The telecom spectrum scam felled several high-rollers. And now there’s the first sign of trouble for Reliance Industries – the country’s largest private conglomerate – that could trigger a quake on a dimension that the country has never seen before.

The revelations in a leaked draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the capital expenditure in India’s first and only commercially exploited deep-water gas field has raised the spectre of a “huge scam”.

The CAG hasn’t quantified it as yet but the indications seem to suggest that the derring-do in the KG-D6 gas block – which was touted as the world’s biggest gas discovery in 2002 – could wreck the reputation of the people who have shaped the destinies of many top politicians and bureaucrats and configured the contours of India’s policies and statecraft.

The CAG’s damning draft on the KG-D6 gas block can undergo changes and the size of the alleged loot may get magnified or diminished in the final report. But judging by the contents of one chapter (read column: Regulation) of the draft — which was missing from the copies leaked out to the press — the report, which is expected to be finalised by August, should trigger a major scam.

For RIL, the timing of the draft is most unkind. It is one of the rarest moments in independent India’s history where the system has started to assert itself against the people who have been regarded as its principal wreckers.

Neither the judiciary nor the CBI can apply different yardsticks when dealing with the new scam. The UPA government will be exposed if it tries to bail out the guilty. So will other political parties that were eloquent about the 2G spectrum scam. The only saving grace for RIL so far is that the CAG hasn’t clearly spelt out the extent of the loss and merely said it was “huge”.

Manmohan Singh already acted with a little foresight. He shifted Murli Deora and his junior Jitin Prasada from the petroleum ministry in February. Its secretary was bundled out and the heads of a couple of officials are on the chopping block. Deora, who is now managing another ministry in the UPA government, is expected to be dropped in the imminent cabinet reshuffle. The CBI, which has already registered a preliminary investigation into KG-D6 affairs, has begun to reactivate the machinery.

V.K. Sibal, the former boss of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), may have nightmarish days ahead. Sibal did not have independent powers. He could only forward his recommendations to his bosses who were the secretary of the Ministry and the minister himself.

M.S. Srinivasan was the secretary when the capital expenditure on the KG-D6 gas field was cleared – which is now at the centre of scrutiny. P.M.S. Prasad, chief of RIL’s OIL division who was subsequently elevated as executive director, is acknowledged to be the architect of the KG-D6 exploration. The architect should know the cost of a project better than anybody else.

The shape of the KG-D6 scam is very different from the spectrum scandal because the investigations are unlikely to throw up proof of direct bribe payments to any individual. The nature of the business and the way that it operates is a lot different.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tale of Whistleblowers in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) Tuesday, 26 April 2011 15:29 ravi srivastava 0 Comments 7 Share “ This case

TUESDAY, APRIL 26, 2011
Tale of Whistleblowers in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) Tuesday, 26 April 2011 15:29 ravi srivastava 0 Comments 7 Share “ This case
Tale of Whistleblowers in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL)
Tuesday, 26 April 2011 15:29 ravi srivastava
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“ This case is a glaring example that to what extent whistle blowers can be tortured , humiliated
for raising voice against rampant corruption and taught a lesson by giving an exemplary punishment
by mighty corporation and Ministry , I dont know when justice will be delivered and will it account
for miseries , hardships ,suffered in last 27 months by us and our families .” RAVI SRIVASTAV
When Some One said That India needs Heavy Changes then people ask question why?? Why when we are
growing faster and GDP growth rate is in great shape?? But only Economy will not make any Country strong,
the people make the country but when people get the suffering only because they care about Nation then
it is most shameful thing for country, country which is largest democracy, long written constitutions, laws and
freedom of speech. After having democracy, constitution, law & order & freedom and freedom of speech if
people oppressed because they take step for Nation then the need of heavy changes is not any question
but the answer.

It is story of two persons Mr. Ravi Srivastava and Mr. Ashok Singh who use their voice to oppose the wrong
happening in oil Industry HPCL for welfare of nation & people but in result they get the oppression & suffering
not by any other people but itself by our Governments .After brutal burning of Yashwant Sonawane in Malegao
by oil mafia now Government industry itself like HPCL harassed people for speaking truth. Is that we call the
right way of progress?????

Article by Himself Mr. Ravi Srivastava

( Staff Association /Oil Sector Officer association's Treasurer in HPCL)



About Ravi Srivastava

I R.P.SRIVASTAVA, 56 year old ,male Graduated in Science and Chemical Technology in the year 1975, after an stint of 1 year at Eicher Tractors and 6 years in Kansai Nerolac(erstwhile Goodlass Nerolac), I joined HPCL in 1982 as an Operations Officer in Grade ‘A’.
BACKGROUND OF ISSUE













Myself and my colleague Ashok singh were employed with HPCL and we were Oil sector officers association's Treasurer and President respectively during May 2008 we were advised by our members that one adulteration marker launched by Ministry of Petroleum and oil companies has serious irregularities in procurement , specification and implementation. An advocate collected all information through RTI and we filed a complaint before Regional director CBI Mumbai .In retaliation HPCL instantly within 4 days suspended Ashok framing in some misappropriation charges against him and unleashed a reign of terror against me by issuing a chargesheet and show cause, they removed my assistance , stopped perquisites, deducted wages ,made me sit under stairs case and finally evicted me from company accommodation

We approached CVC 3 times in june, july& August 2008 instead giving us any protection they gave an order in Nov. 08 that " we can not be given any job related protection and shall be treated as plain complainant', a PIL basis our CBI complaint was filed in june 08 and Hon. Mumbai high court in their judgment in oct 2008 ordered CBI enquiry and by Vigilance of Ministryof Petroleum . CBI finally filed a PE in April 2009 against oil company officials, marker suppliers Authentix thier Indian agents SGS and then Secretary Petroleum and our complaint was vindicated.CNN-IBN in their Breaking news on 21st sept 2009 exposed the whole scam and confirmed that the marker supplier Authentix/SGS were a black listed company abroad and marker purchased @ Rs. 13000/per ltr without ascertaining theproduct specification etc.This marker was also carcinogenic( may cause cancer in human being).

HPCL suspended me on the charge of instigating officers , from their services in Jan 09 ,while oil sector officers went on strike (HPCL was theonly company which was not on strike), and finally dismissed us in March 2009 by framing both of us in a case prior to our CBI complaint while we had protested against an irregular appointment of CEO by then chairman in a JVof HPCL namely HINCOL., our statuary appeal was rejected in oct 2009 by HPCL and confirmed removal from service, my appeals to President of India have been handed over to HPCL only against whom I am fighting this battle.I have now filed my case before Hon'ble mumbai High court and awaiting justice. CBI complaint has been established by CBI and they have confirmed it to Ministry in turn Ministry has issued advisory to Oil PSU chairmen.


“ This case is a glaring example that to what extent whistle blowers can be tortured , humiliated for raising voice against rampant corruption and taught a lesson by giving an exemplary punishment by mighty corporation and Ministry , I dont know when justice will be delivered and will it account for miseries , hardships ,suffered in last 27 months by us and our families .”



">

TV9 News of 7.1.2011



Article ईमानदारी की सजा भुगत रहे हैं दो अधिकारी (Click to Open)on Hindi Media..Article focusing on issue .



I try every legal possible thing but in our country they all are just useless. I send letters to President , Petroleum Minister but nothing happened and reason is our weak system .

My Letter to President

http://www.scribd.com/full/53929573?access_key=key-14jt7fm542o5dduqvs8x



My Letter to Minister of Petroleum

http://www.scribd.com/full/53930064?access_key=key-kdut0z2jhrx09w9xg8s



At last the CVC Report on Charge sheet

http://www.scribd.com/full/53929579?access_key=key-9l81mw20bmev5euyhp9





I request to People that Please Read My Letter to President and understand the seriousness of issue.



INTRODUCTION

I R.P.SRIVASTAVA, 56 year old ,male Graduated in Science and Chemical Technology in the year 1975, after an stint of 1 year at Eicher Tractors and 6 years in Kansai Nerolac(erstwhile Goodlass Nerolac), I joined HPCL in 1982 as an Operations Officer in Grade ‘A’.

BACKGROUND

I joined HP Management Staff Association /Oil Sector Officers Association in 1995 as Treasurer and
successfully achieved several milestones under the leadership of my President Shri Ashok Singh viz. large no.of Promotions for the officers in 1995 , Salary Revision of 2000, Revision in C&B issues and host of officer’s welfare schemes etc. Privatization of HPCL/BPCL was opposed by us and finally halted permanently by Hon’ble Supreme Court orders in Sept 2003,later an attempt by then Govt. to merge HPCL with ONGC was successfully stopped by our convincing presentations

THECASE
MOP&NG , and HPCL Management were scared of our prominence and looking for an opportune situation to fix us they came across one such event on 6.5.08 , while HPCL officers questioned Management for illegally ,arbitrarily appointing one of their favorite Sanjay Grover (who had resigned from HPCL to join MRPL), 3 grades higher in HPCL as a CEO of HPCL JV HINCOL ,Association appealed the Management to review this appointment and give fair opportunity to all eligible officers. After an amicable settlement , Management backed out and Charge Sheeted me & Ashok Singh on 7.5.08. Enquiry in this case commenced on 16.7.08 and despite our strong protests on illegalities, continued till 7.11.08 I had moved Hon’ble Mumbai High court against illegalities in the conduct of Enquiry and filed a petition no. 2254 in Sept 2008 , Hon’ble Mumbai High court in their order dt 1.10.08 gave
me the liberty to approach again in case of an adverse order from HPCL Management . The DA Dir(M) did not even allow us mandatory 15 days period for replying to the Enquiry officer's report and
summoning Dir. HR & GM- HR (mktg.) as witnesses. HPCL summarily dismissed both of us on 12.3.09, my
appeal dt 27.3.09 was rejected on 15.7.09 and I was evicted from the company accommodation .Ashok Singh’s appeal was rejected on 21.09.09 and we both were removed from the company by order dt. 1.10.09.

MARKER SYSTEM
One marker system was introduced in all oil companies (IOC,BPC,HPC) from 1.10.06, and on our instructions an advocate was collecting all information through RTI about irregularities and corruption in the purchase and implementation of Marker system since Nov. 2007 ,all information’s were received on 6.5.08. This marker system was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister Shri Murli Deora on 1.10.2006 at IOC’s Bijwasan Terminal in presence of Sh. Sajjan Kumar, Shri M.S.Srinivasan and Sh. Ashok Badhwar President of Dealers Association for checking adultration of Petrol& Diesel . In fact MOP&NG even amended the Marketing Discipline Guidelines to facilitate a private supplier to inspect Retail Outlets(Petrol Pumps)and officers had complained to us that Private company officers were extorting Money from ignorant Dealers.

Me and Ashok Singh , filed a CBI complaint on 12.5.08, , against then Secy. Petroleum &Nat. gas Sh. M.S
Srinivasan and Private suppliers M/s Authentix/SGS , furious HPCL Management in retaliation promptly
suspended Ashok Singh on 16.5.08 alleging irregularities at one Sajgaon outlet , to which he was not even remotely connected .HPCL Management even recorded in their Board notes on 29th june 2008 and 30th july 2008
that we will be fixed & penalized . We both appealed to CVC for whistle blower protection under Govt. of India’s resolution and even met Vigilance Commissioner personally to apprise him of the case on 6.6.08, 21/22.7.08 and 7.8.08 , instead getting us protected,
our miseries compounded and HPCL Management unleashed chain of atrocities on me and took a vowto finish us once and for all. Management served me 2nd charge sheet on 30.7.08 for displaying some marker related report on Association notice board on 6.6.08(that day I was in CVC's office at Delhi which has been confirmed by CVC in response to a RTI) , in fact this so called confidential Marker report was already published by a website Indianpetro.com on
21.5.08 it self .Enquiry in this case commenced on 21.11.08 and abruptly discontinued on 18.2.09BYEnquiry Officer. Since May 2008 , Management was looking for an opportunity to remove me from the company and in this process, they evicted me from my office on 15.10.08, and made to sit under stairs case , took away assistance and curtailed my benefits and even deducted the Salary . Management swiftly used OSOA strike of 7-9th Jan 2009 to fix me and implicated once again into a false charge of instigating the officers and suspended on 9.1.09. It is noteworthy that I myself had not even participated in that strike and was on duty.
Basis a news item on Marker system , which appeared in TOI of 4.6.08, a PIL No. 60 was filed in Mumbai High Court on 16.6.08 ,by a social activist Shri Simpreet Singh, Hon’ble Mumbai High Court ordered CBI enquiry in this PIL case on 23.10.08 , and the marker was abruptly discontinued by all oil companies on 31.12.08,As per news item in Indian Express dated 5.10.08 and TOI dated 16.6.09 the marker was not tamper proof and launder able by ordinary clay. It was also established by HPCL appointed R&D advisor that it was carcinogenic in nature( could cause cancer in human being), still despite court orders oil companies placed order for 3 months from ( 1.10.08-31.12.08) and marker doping was continued.CBI has already filed PE in this case on 29.4.09 against the Secy. Petroleum ,Private supplier and OMC (oil marketing company)officers.CNN-IBN in their news telecast on 21.9.09, have confirmed that supplier Authentix was already a black listed company abroad named as ( BIOCODE) and CVC has ordered CBI enquiry against erring senior Ministry officials .

Our case is a glaring example of abuse of Authority by those in power , whether beaurocrats, politician and victimization of Honest , upright and Bold officers who dared to expose corruption in High places . There is a determined effort by all powerful C&MD HPCL and its directors to circumvent laid down procedures , harass, humiliate and even sacked officers like us to demonstrate other colleagues in the Oil Industry, that they will meet the same fate , if they even dared to question Management decisions. Whatever we had complained to CBI has been vindicated.The entire action against us is in retaliation and revenge by HPCL Management for filing CBI complaint.

Respectable Madam , our life has been ruined by these Greedy , corrupt officials and leaders , you are our last hope before we exercise the options , available under the Law. As a stake holder and President of this Nation and 51% shareholder of HPCL , this company has lost more than Rs. 10000 cr. of Market capitalization because of corruption, Mismanagement and frauds of present HPCL Management.

Prayer

1. We are reinstated in HPCL with our full back wages and career progression .

2. The guilty officers are brought to book , through an impartial , fair enquiry by CBI ,as ordered byHon’ble High Court and CVC.

In Media there is coverage but the National main stream media still not interested in this matter because of the intensity of the matter and reach of government in this issues .But few reports came in media but still very much insufficient .







Video link of TV9 News on 18.9.2010

">



TV9 PANEL DISCUSSION 27.1.2011 @ 7.00 PM AT THEIR STUDIO



">

IBN LOKMAT PANEL DISCUSSION ON 28.1.2011 9.50 PM

http://ibnlokmat.tv/showvideo.php?id=147582 ,http://ibnlokmat.tv/showvideo.php?id=147582

Video link of CNN IBN NEWS ON 28.01.2011 BY Sumon k chakraborti& Shoab Ahmed

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/govt-mulls-use-of-controversial-fuel-marker/141790-3.html

CNN IBN PANEL DISCUSSION ON CHANNEL WITH NARENDRA TANEJA, RPN SINGH, ANU MISHRA ON 27.1.2011 RAJ DEEP SIRDESAI
http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/141694/can-the-government-reign-in-the-oil-mafia.html





“ This case is a glaring example that to what extent whistle blowers can be tortured , humiliated for raising voice against rampant corruption and taught a lesson by giving an exemplary punishment by mighty corporation and Ministry , I dont know when justice will be delivered and will it account for miseries , hardships ,suffered in last 27 months by us and our families .”



All I just want to put a point in front of people that how our Higher Government worked and how the wrong things are happening in government sector like in Oil Industry and when people like me and Ashok Singh raised a voice then the treatment which we get from authorities is in front of you .

I demand support because there are many people in different – different industry who wants to speak up and if I succeeded and get support of people then it encourages other people to raise voice against the high profile industries and governments.



R. P. Srivastava
ravi4354@gmail.com
Blog http://raviprakash4354.blogspot.com
India Against corruption Activist and Volunteer from Navi Mumbai




“People are ignoring the truth and turn blind on things but without solving these hard issues , our country will never able to see a better future. So we have to support right people & speak openly and have to demand heavy changes because our country needs it.” Easytoact

Sunday, April 24, 2011

l लग्नशील अधिकारी कब तक पाएंगे सच बोलने की सजा

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लग्नशील अधिकारी कब तक पाएंगे सच बोलने की सजा?
4/17/2011 1:52:29 PM
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यह कहानी नहीं है, एक सच्चाई है, जो हम में से किसी के भी साथ घट सकती है, हमारी सरकार ने आर.टी.आई. एक्ट बनाकर अपने एक दायित्व का निर्वाह तो कर लिया पर यह नहीं सोचा कि जो लोग सूचना के अधिकार का प्रयोग कर के सच को सामने लाने का साहस करेंगे उन्हें इस सरकार के नेता और नौकरशाह किस तरह से प्रताड़ित एवं अपमानित करके सजा देंगे? इस बारे में बचाव का कोई प्रावधान इस एक्ट में नहीं किया गया। इस घटना के 2 पात्र रवि श्रीवास्तव और अशोक सिंह, हिंदुस्तान पेट्रोलियम कारपोरेशन लिमिटेड (एच.पी.सी.एल.) में वरिष्ठ प्रबंधक व मुख्य प्रबंधक के पद पर कार्य करते थे। इसके अतिरिक्त पेट्रोलियम मंत्रालय के तहत आनेवाली 13 तेल कंपनियों की OSOA के नाम से कार्यरत फेडरेशन के कोषाध्यक्ष व अध्यक्ष भी थे। एच.पी.सी.एल. एवं बी.पी.सी.एल. का निजीकरण इन्हीं दोनों की अगुवाई में माननीय उच्च्तम न्यायालय ने रोक दिया था। बाद में सरकार ने एच.पी.सी.एल. को ओ.एन.जी.सी. के साथ विलय करना चाहा तो उसको भी इन लोगों ने प्रभावी प्रस्तुतीकरण कर रुकवा दिया था।

इन दोनों की इन्हीं उपलब्घियों के कारण सरकार इन्हें अपने निर्णय की राह में कांटा समझती थी और मंत्रालय इन्हीं के कारण कंपनियों का दोहन अपने मन मुताबिक नहीं कर पा रहा था। एच.पी.सी.एल. प्रबंधन व शास्त्री भवन में बैठे उनके आका किसी ऐसे मौके की तलाश में थे जिससे इनको किसी तरह कंपनी से निकाल दिया जाए। इनकी फेडरेशन भी पंगु हो जाए और कंपनियों के प्रंबधन निर्बाध रूप से अपना दमन चक्र चला सकें।

ऐसा एक सुअवसर एच.पी.सी.एल. प्रबंधन को मई 2008 में तब मिला जब कंपनी के अधिकारियों ने प्रबंधन के एक मनमाने निर्णय का विरोध किया। एच.पी.सी.एल. ने अपनी ही एक जे.वी. (हिंकोल) में कंपनी छोड़कर 2 साल पहले ही चले गए एक अधिकारी की 3 ग्रेड ऊपर नियुक्त कर के उसको हिंकोल का अध्यक्ष बना दिया जब कि इस पद के लिए उससे पहले कंपनी में 150 और उपयुक्त अधिकारी थे। 6 मई को एच.पी.सी.एल. की चेंबूर स्थित कालोनी में निर्देशक (मानव संसाधन) व महाप्रंबधक (मानव संसाधन) स्वयं आए जहां लगभग 400 अधिकारियों ने अपने हितों की रक्षा के लिए उन्हें आड़े हाथों लिया। फलस्वरूप अगले ही दिन 7 मई 2008 को रवि श्रीवास्तव एवं अशोक सिंह को आरोप पत्र थमा दिए गए।

इस मामले में उल्लेखनीय है कि जुलाई 2006 में पेट्रोलियम मंत्रालय ने तेल कंपनियो में एक ‘मार्कर’ सिस्टम लागू करने का निर्णय लिया था। यह कदम इसलिए उठाया गया जिससे पेट्रोल व डिजल में केरोसीन की मिलावट को रोका जा सके। इसके लिए एक ब्रिटिश कंपनी ‘आथेंट्रिक्स’ व उसके भारतीय एजेंट एस.जी.एस. को नियुक्त करने का आदेश तत्कालीन पेट्रोलियम सचिव एम.एस. श्रीनिवासन ने तेल कंपनियों को दिया। इस कंपनी को 200 करोड़ करोड़ रुपए का ठेका देने से पहले ना तो ‘मार्कर’ के माप दंड, पर्यावरण प्रभाव, फार्मूला व टेंडर देखे गए और न ही विशेषताओं का आकलन किया गया। निजी कंपनी को पेट्रोल पंप पर निरीक्षण करने का आदेश भी मंत्रालय ने 15 फरवरी 2007 को पारित कर दिया। इस तरह के एक तरफा निर्णय से तेल कंपनियों के बिक्री अधिकारी अंसतुष्ट थे और उन्होंने सिंह व श्रीवास्तव को अवगत कराया कि एस.जी.एस. के कर्मचारी पंपो से ‘‘झूठा फेल’’ दिखा कर हफ्ता वसूली कर रहे है। ज्ञात रहे कि 1अक्टूबर 2006 को पेट्रोलियम मंत्री मुरली देवड़ा ने स्वयं इंडियन आयल के बिजवासन टर्मिनल में उपरोक्त ‘मार्कर’ का उद्घाटन किया था, इस समारोह में स्थानीय सांसद सज्जन कुमार, पेट्रोल डीलर एसोशियन के अध्यक्ष अशोक बघवार उपस्थित थे। श्रीनिवासन सहित तेल कंम्पनियों के अनेक उच्च अधिकारी भी समारोह में उपस्थित थे।

नवम्बर 2007 में मुंबई के एक वरिष्ठ अधिवक्ता ने आर.टी.आई. एक्ट का प्रयोग करेक ‘मार्कर’ खरीद संबंधी जानकारी तेल कंपनियों व मंत्रालय से मांगी। शुरुआती ना नुकुर के बाद 6 मई को इंडियन आयल ने उक्त जानकारी उपलब्ध करवा दी।

इस जानकारी को आधार मान कर सिंह व श्रीवास्तव ने 12 मई 2008 को सीबीआई के क्षेत्रीय निदेशक के सम्मुख लिखित शिकायत दर्ज करवा दी। यहां यह बताना जरूरी है कि सरकार के Whistle Blower Protection प्रस्ताव में यह कहीं नहीं कहा गया है कि शिकायत सीवीसी को ही की जाए। यहां उल्लेखनीय है कि यह मामला उन विशेष मामलों में से एक है जिसमें किसी अधिकारी ने अपने नियोक्ता के विरूद्ध भ्रष्टाचार की शिकायत दर्ज करवाई हो।

शिकायत दर्ज होते ही सरकार का दमनचक्र पूरी तेजी से चल पडा। 4 दिनों के अंदर ही सिंह को उसके क्षेत्र में एक पेट्रेल पंप पर वित्तीय गड़बड़ी का हवाला देकर निलंबित कर दिया गया। निलंबन के विशेषाधिकार का प्रयोग कर, उसके कार्यालय में प्रवेश, ईमेल, आदि बंद कर दिए गए। अशोक सिंह के क्षेत्र में कुल ऐसे 140 पंप थे। दोनों अधिकारियों ने 27 मई को को पत्र लिख कर सीवीसी से ‘प्रोटेक्शन’ की मांग की। 6 जून, 22 जुलाई व 7 अगस्त को स्वयं सीवीसी सुधीर कुमार से स्वयं मिलकर उन्हें पूरे घटनाक्रम से अवगत कराया। सीवीसी कार्यालय का अनुभव इन अधिकारियों पर गाज की तरह गिरा। जितने बार यह उस कार्यालय में गए हर बार एच.पी.सी.एल. ने एक नया केस इन पर लगा दिया।

रवि श्रीवास्तव को एक आरोप पत्र 30 जुलाई 2008 और एक कारण बताओ नोटिस 2 सितंबर 2008 को दे दिया जिसमें आधारहीन आरोप लगाए गए। उदाहरण के लिए कहा गया कि 6 जून 2008 को श्रीवास्तव ने मार्कर संबंधी कोई तकनीकी रिपोर्ट एसोशिएशन के सूचनापट पर लगा दी जब कि वह 6 जून को दिल्ली में CVC कार्यालय में थे और वह तकनीकी रिपोर्ट 21 मई 2008 को ही पेट्रोलियम क्षेत्र की एक वेबसाईट indianpetro.com पर प्रकाशित हो चुकी थी।

30 अक्टूबर को सीवीसी ने आदेश पारित करके पूरे मामले से अपना पल्ला झाड़ लिया। सीवीसी के आदेश में कहा गया कि ‘‘दोनों अधिकारी केवल शिकायती है और इन्हें कार्य संबंधित किसी प्रकार का प्रोटेक्शन नहीं दिया जा सकता’’

16 जून 2008 को मुंबई उच्च न्यायालय में ‘मार्कर’ घोटाले पर एक जनहित याचिका दाखिल की गई। यह याचिका सामाजिक कार्यकर्ता सिमप्रीत सिंह ने की थी माननीय उच्च न्यायालय नें अपने निर्णय में 23 अक्टूबर 2008 को सीबीआई को मामलें की जांच करने का आदेश दे दिया और मंत्रालय के सतर्कता विभाग को अलग से जांच करने को कहा। 21 अपै्रल 2009 को मुंबई सीबीआई ने प्राथमिक जांच दर्ज कर ली।

31 दिसम्बर 2008 को बिना किसी प्रकार का कारण बताए देश भर में ‘मार्कर’ प्रणाली को बंद कर दिया गया जो आज तक बंद है। करोड़ों रुपए का ‘मार्कर’ रसायन जो तेल कंपनियों के पास पडा था वह बरबाद हो गया।

इस बीच सिंह व श्रीवास्तव के विरूद्ध 7 मई 2008 के आरोप पत्र की जांच शुरू कर दी गई जो उनके विरोध करने व गवाहों को बुलाने के आग्रह के बावजूद 11 नवम्बर को समाप्त कर दी गई। इस बीच श्रीवास्तव के सहायकों को हटा दिया गया। वेतन व भत्तों में कटौती कर दी गई और उन्हें उनके कार्यालय से निकाल सीढ़ियों के नीचे बैठने की जगह दी गई। इस सब का उद्देश्य उन्हें भी कंपनी से निकालना ही था। 7-9 जनवरी 2009 का जब देश भर के तेल अधिकारी हडत़ाल पर गए तब एच.पी.सी.एल. के अधिकारियों को उकसाने के आरोप में उन्हें भी निलंबित कर दिया गया। आश्चर्यजनक बात यह थी एच.पी.सी.एल. हडताल में शामिल ही नहीं थी तथा श्रीवास्तव स्वंय हडताल के दौरान कार्यालय में ही थे।

6 मई की जांच रिपोर्ट को आधार मान कर दोनों अधिकारियों को 12 मार्च 2009 को H.P.C.l. से बरखास्त कर दिया गया। श्रीवास्तव को 2 अगस्त 2009 को भरी बरसात में सामान सहित कंपनी के घर से निकाल दिया गया। इस निर्णय के विरोध में की गई अपील को 1 अक्टूबर 2009 को खारिज कर दिया गया। 21 सितम्बर 2009 को CNN - IBN ने अपनी ब्रेकिंग न्यूज में मार्कर घोटाले का पर्दाफाश किया और बताया कि ‘आथेंट्रिक्स’ विदेश में ‘Biocode’ के नाम से पहले से ही काली सूची में थी, और जो मार्कर 13000/- प्रति लीटर की दर से खरीदा गया उसका कोई मूल्यांकन ही नहीं किया गया था। 22 जून को टाइम्स ऑफ इंडिया ने लिखा कि ‘मार्कर’ Carciongenic है यानि इससे मनुष्य को कैंसर जैसी गंभीर बीमारी भी हो सकती है यह बात H.P.C.l. D S R & D सलाहकार ए. के. भटनागर ने पेट्रोटेक 2005 के सेमिनार में जनवरी 2005 में ही बता दी थी। इंडियन एक्सप्रेस ने 5 अक्टूबर 2008 के समाचार में लिखा कि यह मार्कर जो करोडों रुपए में खरीदा गया था उसे मामूली Clay से साफ किया जा सकता था।

एच.पी.सी.एल. ने जुलाई 2008 में अधिकारियों की एसोशिएशन - HPMSA की मान्यता रद्द कर दी और आधे से ज्यादा अधिकारियों को डरा धमका कर उनसे सदस्यता से इस्तीफा ले लिया। यद्यपि श्रम न्यायालय ने 31 अगस्त 2009 को एसोशिएशन की मान्यता बहाल कर दी।

एच.पी.सी.एल. ने जिस तरह अपमानित करके दो साहसी अधिकारियों को बरखास्त किया वह तेल कंपनियों के इतिहास में काले अक्षरों से लिखा जाएगा। 200 करोड़ रुपए के घोटाले का पर्दाफाश करने वाले अधिकारियों के साथ ऐसा बर्ताव दूसरों को उदाहरण देने के लिए किया गया कि भविष्य में अगर कोई अधिकारी इस तरह का दुस्साहस करेगा तो उसका क्या परिणाम होगा।

सीवीसी और सीबीआई का बर्ताव पूरे घटनाक्रम में अत्यंत संदेहास्पद रहा है। मंत्रालय ने मुंबई उच्च न्यायालय के आदेश पर जांच की या नहीं यह सारे प्रश्न अनुत्तरित हैं दोनों अधिकारियों ने अपनी बरखास्तगी को रद्द करने के लिए मुंबई उच्च न्यायालय में याचिका दाखिल कर दी है। दोनों अधिकारी पेशे से इंजीनियर हैं और 3 दशकों के उनके कार्यकाल में उनके विरुद्ध कभी किसी प्रकार का कोई आरोप नहीं लगा था। बल्कि दूसरे अधिकारियों के समक्ष उनकी कार्यक्षमता व योग्यता का उदाहरण दिया जाता था।








रवि श्रीवास्तव

Mallya’s cheque

Mallya’s cheque
He owns Bangalore-based IPL cricket team Royal Challengers but MP and liquor baron Vijay Mallya still can’t raise enough money to pay for jet fuel used by his beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines. PETROWATCH learns a $44.5m cheque (Receipt Number: 10001386RU13010 drawn on
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Mumbai-based Axis Bank) issued by Mallya on March 31 towards an outstanding bill of $129m with Hindustan Petroleum has bounced! HPCL sources tell us Mallya exceeded his credit limit of $65.3m long ago but that HPCL continues to supply jet fuel to his airline on credit. Last March the oil ministry directed HPCL to stop supplying fuel to Kingfisher on credit and only against cash. But HPCL insiders tell us of a company “nexus” that continues to supply fuel to Kingfisher on credit in defiance of the ministry order. HPCL is not the only state-owned company suffering the Mallya cash-crunch. The Formula 1 ‘Force India’ team owner also has an outstanding bill of $58m with Bharat Petroleum, which he is contesting. (Back)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 2011
HPCL lavishes $45,000 in gifts and perks to MPs

Titan watches, shawls, countless taxi and restaurant bills, as well as
extended stays in the country’s finest hotels. These are some of the
perks enjoyed by some of India’s MPs, courtesy Hindustan Petroleum,
the country’s second largest state-owned refiner. PETROWATCH learns
HPCL last year spent Rs21.6 lakhs ($45,000) on the MPs, most of them
members of the influential Standing Committee on Petroleum & Natural
Gas. All the expenses, seen by this report on a detailed HPCL
spreadsheet, are meticulously documented, and apparently routine. Like
on June 30 last year, when HPCL cleared a bill of Rs5.38 lakhs
($11,700) to the Taj hotel in Mumbai for visiting standing committee
members. Or for that matter, on July 5 last year, when HPCL again paid
Rs3.74 lakhs ($8100) to the Taj to cover the stay of ‘Hon’ble MPs and
Govt. Officials.’ Delhi’s five-star Ashok hotel also gets a mention,
when on April 24 last year HPCL released Rs1.49 lakh ($3200) to pay
for parliamentary hospitality. Visits to the Kerala backwaters
likewise figure in the name of parliamentary democracy. On May 24,
HPCL paid a Rs2 lakh ($4300) demand draft (transaction number:
35323310) to an unidentified ‘GM Kerala’ to spend on parliamentary
committee hospitality. Strangely, HPCL insiders tell us no ‘GM Kerala’
position exists within the company. The list goes on, from the sublime
to the ridiculous, like a Rs12,280 ($270) payment on June 14 last year
to the distinctly non-political sounding Mangalore-based Stanley
Studio & Video and Rs20,400 ($440) to the equally non-political Elite
Arts, both on behalf of undisclosed standing committee MPs. Small
amounts they might be, but they go some way in explaining why India’s
politicians and bureaucrats are loathe to privatise the state-owned
oil behemoths they control.PETROWATCH

Prime Minister - IOC Jaipur Fire - "Our husbands were murdered" - Lo

Prime Minister - IOC Jaipur Fire - "Our husbands were murdered" - Lo Topic List < Prev Topic | Next Topic >
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Dear Dr Manmohan Singh,

Mysterious death of key witnesses has been happening in India including the one that took place in PF Scam involving SC / HC Judges and the possibility of the IOC two Officers burnt to death because of their knowledge on heavy stock losses at IOC Jaipur Terminal, and adjacent HPCL Terminal, that was reportedly under investigation by CBI for a very long time prior to IOC Jaipur inferno that commenced on 29th October 2009.

Further, losing Govt sector job on raising corruption issues has not been new and the recent glaring examples are that of Mr Ashok Singh & Mr RP Srivastava of HPCL who lost job primarily because of their exposing corruption by Mr Murli Deora in Kerosene Marker case.

That is what the IOC counsel need to keep in mind before raising finger at brother Advocate Mr Mahendra Gaur who, incidentally happened to be my Controlling Officer as Deputy Manager (Technical Services) while I was Asstt Manager (Technical Services) at IOC Ahmedabad during 1988-89. Advocate seems to be making sinister effort at diverting the crucial issue.

It may kindly be appreciated that the charges levelled by the widows are very very serious in nature that cannot be brushed aside lightly and, in the interest of justice, must be properly investigated expeditiously to nail down criminal culprits as the enormous power of the State should not lead to torture or physical harm to the widows already suffering due to criminal negligence of Board of Directors who are still allowed to roam free and reportedly tampering with the evidences.

Reference media news:
http://epaper.dnaindia.com/dnaahmedabad/epaperpdf/01112010/31jaipur%20main%20edition-pg3-0.pdf

Regards,

--
(Babubhai Vaghela)
C 202, Shrinandnagar V, Makarba Road Vejalpur, Ahmedabad - 380051
M - 94276 08632
http://twitter.com/BabubhaiVaghela
About me at - http://bit.ly/9xsHFj
http://www.youtube.com/user/vaghelabd
(Administrator - Google Group - Right to Information Act 2005)
http://groups.google.com/group/Right-to-Information-Act-2005/about?hl=en

Monday, March 28, 2011

Indian [petro.com news 28th march 2011

March 28: While the jury is still out as to why the contract for the Authentix marker system was terminated, the CBI, in its recent findings, has observed lapses in the tendering process for the marker system. It may be recalled that the marker system developed by the British manufacturer, Authentix, and employed by the Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) in late 2006, had proved to be of doubtful success. It was claimed that Authentix failed to live up to its claims and its marker had little success. An audit carried out of various samples of auto fuel from Retail Outlets (ROs) in 2007 revealed various marker test failures. Furthermore, an enquiry conducted by IOC`s vigilance department had detected that a brown chemical powder was being used to negate the efficiency of the marker system. In this backdrop, a CBI investigation was launched on the manner in which the marker was obtained without going through a proper tender process. In a recent advisory to the petroleum ministry, the CBI has made the following suggestion on how tendering should be done for acquiring marker systems in the future:
8In all procurement matters, proper global tender should be issued and not a global Expression of Interest (EOI)
8In case of issue of global EOI, it should only be used for academic purpose and should not be coupled with procurement process
8It is to be ensured that the bidding process invites healthy competition beneficial to the oil marketing companies (OMCs)
8The R&D department of the OMCs should be more professional in their approach and give clear recommendations with reason for their choices
8The officials visiting other countries to study the performance of marker should submit proper tour reports with supporting documents to the higher authorities