New Delhi: The Ministry of Railways, after conducting interviews of candidates on October 9 for the post of chairman and managing director of the Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) which also included Shelley Verma, the director (finance) of the public sector unit (PSU) who has been under the shadow of a controversy, has decided to adopt “an alternate method of selection” for the post.

On October 7, The Wire had published a report pointing out the controversy surrounding Verma in relation to a corruption case which is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Citing the case, this correspondent had mailed a questionnaire to railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, chairman and chief executive officer of the Railway Board Jaya Verma Sinha, Anjali Goel, member (finance) at the Railway Board and Shobhana Bandopadhyay, principal executive director (vigilance) at the Railway Board, asking why an official under the scanner for alleged financial embezzlement has been shortlisted for the top post.

The questionnaire also asked why the Railway Vigilance Directorate – after it found alleged financial discrepancy of public funds in which Verma had played a crucial part (the official documents were perused by The Wire) – was even allowed to continue in the charge of CMD of the PSU. The Wire report with details of the corruption case which the Board forwarded to the CBI for further inquiry in February 2023, can be read here.

As per the Department of Personnel and Training, two other candidates – a director at HUDCO and a divisional railway manager with the Indian Railways – were also shortlisted for the October 9 interview besides Verma.

Though neither the minister’s office nor the Railway Board chief and Railway Vigilance principal executive officer replied to The Wire’s queries, the Board later took the decision to not hire either Verma or the other two shortlisted candidates. As per the Department of Personnel circular issued later on October 9, “Keeping in view the strategic importance and vision for the company (IRFC) and its future, and the performance of the candidates interviewed, the Board did not recommend any candidate.”

The circular further said, the Board “advised the Ministry of Railways to choose an alternate method of selection, including search-cum-selection committee (SCSC), as deemed appropriate for the selection, with the approval of the competent authority.”

The post of the chairman and CMD of IRFC has been lying vacant for a year now. Former CMD Amitabha Banerjee was divested of his responsibilities “with immediate effect” after The Wire filed a report pointing out that he was granted vigilance clearance for a full term by the Board even after his name was mentioned in a CBI FIR related to a multi-crore corruption case.

Verma, who also served as director (finance) during Banerjee’s tenure, has not been mentioned by name by the CBI in its FIR in the recent (August 2023) corruption case but only as “officials of IRFC including Banerjee”.

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