The Hindu : Income tax: BESCOM MD facing Lokayukta case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 17, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Income tax: BESCOM MD facing Lokayukta case

By Divya Sreedharan

BANGALORE May 16. The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) has started business on a controversial note — its Managing Director (MD) has a pending Lokayukta case against him.

About 20 days ago, P.B. Ramamurthy, former Director of Horticulture, took charge as BESCOM MD at its K.R. Circle office.

Lokayukta sources told The Hindu that on August 17, 1998, Mr. Ramamurthy's house at Vasanthnagar (government quarters) was raided by Income Tax (IT) officials because he had allegedly amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The IT case was referred to the then Chief Secretary, who entrusted it to the Lokayukta. The Lokayukta raided his house on December 15, 1998 on the same charge. The case is "still under investigation". After the IT probe, Mr. Ramamurthy was denied promotion for some time. "This post is apparently a promotion," sources said.

Asked why the State Government had appointed Mr. Ramamurthy to such an important post, the Energy Secretary, K.P. Pandey, said that being under a probe did not automatically make the officer concerned guilty.

The problem is that the Government rules for transfer of assets/liabilities and personnel to electricity supply companies (ESCOMs) say employees under investigation will be dealt with by the relevant ESCOMs. Here, the MD of an ESCOM himself is under investigation.

BESCOM is the most important of the four ESCOMs. It brings in the most revenue (over Rs. 140 crore a month) for the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL), and its transmission and distribution (T&D) losses are less than those of the other three — Mangalore, Gulbarga, and Hubli ESCOMs.For instance, an Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) study under Prof. Sengupta says that in Bangalore, T&D losses are 16 to 19 per cent.

The consultants appointed by the Government have worked out the proposed "distribution margin" (DM) concept only for BESCOM. They gave their calculations at an Energy Department workshop on DM methodology in January this year.

Sources said the consultants had not worked out the financial details for the other three ESCOMs though the Karnataka Electricity Board Engineers' Association (KEBEA) had requested them to do so then.

`Appoint technocrats'

The KEBEA has urged the Government to appoint technically competent personnel as ESCOM heads. The KEBEA President, K.C. Naikwadi, told The Hindu that the association wanted zonal chief engineers to be promoted as MDs. "But we were told that bureaucrats would be better," he said. In fact, the Karnataka Working Group on Electricity (KWOE) has raised objections. This group of retired KEB men point out that even the Union Power Minister, Suresh Prabhu, has made the former Bombay Suburban Electricity Supply (BSES) chief, R.V. Shahi, the Union Power Secretary. "When the Centre can do that, why cannot the State?" they ask.

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