THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: All political parties are in unison when it comes to the realisation of the Vizhinjam International Container Transshipment Terminal but like any other project in the state, even this is mired in political interferences. It has already seen five CEOs since 2006. Of this, three were, in fact, state port secretaries holding the charge of CEO, Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd (VISL). VISL, the state government company supervising the project, has had only two full-time CEOs so far - the first CEO Dr Jayakumar and the present CEO A S Suresh Babu. Most of the appointments made for the project were not done through the Public Service Commission and people were being recruited by the successive LDF and UDF Governments without even advertising for the posts.Already 11 people appointed during the previous LDF tenure to various positions at VISL have been shown the door after the UDF came to power. Those asked to leave, including women employees, have now approached the High Court which has stayed the dismissals till a final verdict is pronounced.“All this even when the very appointment of the Chief Operating Officer has been made flouting norms. The State Government till now has not sanctioned the post of COO in VISL and a decision is pending with the government,’’ said a top official in the Ports Department.The certified minutes of the 18th board meeting of VISL, a copy of which is in the possession of Express, clearly points out that Jayashankar Prasad, who was serving as vice-president of INKEL, was appointed as the COO on a three-year contact without getting the generic permission from the state government.” Managing Director and CEO, VISL, had requested for Dr Jayasankar’s deputation from INKEL in the above context (of INKEL being a GoK initiative). INKEL informed that a generic permission was to be obtained from the government for deputation of people from and to INKEL from PSUs, which was found to be impractical,’’ said the extract of the board meeting held on January 10, 2011.The COO joined duty with effect from December 31 after a bid process was notified on November 25, 2010. Further, the board observed in its 18th meet: “In summary, the proposal still pending with the government despite the requisite clarification being given had created an urgency for engaging a professional particularly in the project side. In the best interest of the project and in good faith, the decision on appointment of COO was made to meet the immediate professional inputs that were required,’’ said the certified extract. The COO was appointed on a three-year contract with a consolidated remuneration of Rs 80,000 per month and an annual increment of five per cent. Further, the board also decided: ‘’Further recruitments may be made following the standard procedures and the appointment (of COO) should not become a precedent for other appointments.’’However, the present CEO A S Suresh Babu said that he was trying to build an expert team with technical expertise but admitted that some of the recruitments in the past were made in violation of the norms. “After it was decided that the project would be implemented on Landlord Model, we are trying to recruit experts from various domains. Already an environmental engineer has been entrusted with the task of looking after environment-related issues and taking the stakeholders into confidence. All the present recruitments are made as per the norms. But I am aware that some of the recruitment were made in haste in the past without following norms,’’ he said.
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