Govt sacks all five independent directors of MRPL appointed by UPA

September 16, 2014

Mangalore, Sep 16: The government has sacked all the five independent directors of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), leaving the company board with no powers to take any large investment decision.

MRPL
MRPL in a filing to the stock exchanges today said: "Five non official part time directors namely, C L Shah, Neela Gangadharan, Prof Usha Kiran Rai, Prof Jayant M Modak and Capt John Prasad Menezes have ceased to be Directors on the Board of the Company."

With this, the board has lost its power to pass accounts, or take any large investment decisions. All the five independent directors were appointed by the previous UPA regime on October 22 last year for a three-year term.

This follows removal of all the UPA-appointee independent directors on board of Coal India Ltd (CIL) and sacking of four such appointees from IOC board. Besides, two UPA appointees on board of Engineers India Ltd too have been booted out.

Unlike Coal India, where the directors were told to quit and those who did not were voted out at company's shareholders meeting, in case of MRPL and IOC no resolution confirming appointments was moved.

Sources said the MRPL directors were appointed after the last shareholders meeting and their appointment was to be ratified at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) on September 13.

In absence of the company moving a resolution seeking confirmation of their appointments, the five ceased to be directors on the company board.

After their exit, MRPL board now has six functional and promoter directors. These are Chairman D K Sarraf, Managing Director H Kumar, Director (Finance) Vishnu Agrawal, Director (Refinery) V G Joshi, Oil Ministry nominee director P Kalyanasundaram and HPCL nominee director B K Namdeo.

MRPL is a subsidiary of state explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). Though the government has no shareholding in MRPL, it holds 68.94 per cent of ONGC.

Sources said IOC too had not moved a resolution for confirmation of appointment of K Jairaj, Nesar Ahmad, Sunil Krishna and Sayan Chatterjee at its AGM on August 27.

In absence of shareholder approval, the four, who were appointed by the previous UPA government in March this year for a three-year term, ceased to be directors on IOC board.

Shah is a chartered accountant C L Shah while Gangadharan is a former bureaucrat. Modak is a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Professor while Rai is a Professor of Marketing at Banaras Hindu University Usha Kiran Rai.

There is also a move to seek removal of former Power Secretary P Uma Shankar, chartered accountant S Ravi and former BPCL Chairman R K Singh from the board of ONGC.

Similarly, chartered accountant Rohit Khanna is being sought to be removed from the board of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) in a similar manner.

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News Network
March 19,2024

jeddah.jpg

Mangaluru: The Mangalore International Airport (MIA) will connect to a new domestic destination with the introduction of a non-stop flight to Tiruchirappalli International Airport in Tamil Nadu. 

The non-stop service, once-a-week, will operate on Wednesday (from TIA) and Thursday (from MIA), starting April 3. Air India Express will operate the flight.

The flight is expected to help those taking up a pilgrimage to Vailankani shrine.

Sources from the AIE said that the airline carrier decided to fly non-stop between the two southern Indian cities as a flight to Jeddah, which will start from April 3, arrives from Tiruchirappalli International Airport. 

“It is a ferry or positional flight from TIA to MIA. Instead of flying empty, the management has decided to run it as a commercial flight. This will help both passengers and the airline. The airline will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft with a 186-seater all-economy configuration on this route. 

The same flight, after landing in MIA, will further fly to Jeddah,” a source said. 

The flight IX 1498 will depart every Thursday at 5am from MIA to TIA. The TIA-MIA flight IX 1499 departs at 12.50pm. It is a one-hour nonstop flight. The same flights will also operate nonstop between Jeddah and MIA. 

The non-stop flight IX 499 will depart MIA at 2.50pm and reach King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah at 6.25pm. The IX498, will depart from Jeddah at 7.25pm and reach MIA early at 3.40am.

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News Network
March 28,2024

Mangaluru, Mar 28: Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Mullai Muhilan MP has warned the individuals and political parties against the poll code violations during private events. 
 
“Private events such as marriages, birthdays, housewarming ceremonies, and other non-political programmes do not require any permission. However, one should ensure that there is no violation of the model code of conduct (MCC) at these functions. Permission is needed if the events are attended by politicians or candidates,” the DC said. 

He said that these gatherings will be under the surveillance of MCC teams, as there are chances of luring voters by campaigning and supplying food, said the DC. The district has 38,386 new voters, of which, 19,619 are men.

He said that the notification of election in Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency will be issued soon, and the filing of nominations will be held between 11 am and 3 pm till April 4. 

Only five persons, including the candidate, will be allowed to enter the returning officer’s chamber to submit the nominations. A facilitation centre will be opened at the DC’s office. 

The expenditure of the candidate will be counted from the day the candidate files the nomination.

The DC said that the district is not an expenditure-sensitive constituency. Assistant expenditure observers and expenditure observers will monitor the expenditure of the candidates. An expenditure book will be provided to the candidate to record expenditure incurred, he explained.

Further, he said that no election materials can be printed without the name and address of the publishers, and the number of copies printed. Separate permission should be availed for procession prior to the submission of nomination papers from the ARO office, through the single-window system.

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News Network
March 27,2024

Bengaluru: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday launched simultaneous raids in multiple places, including Bengaluru and Shivamogga.

Reports suggested that the ongoing raids are in connection with the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe on March 1. The blast had injured at least ten people as per the police report.

The Central Crime Branch (CCB) had launched an investigation alongside the NIA, and the trail of the suspect led them to Tumakuru first and subsequently to Ballari. Investigators believe that the bomb was planted by Mussavir Hussain Shazib, a handler of the Islamic State’s Shivamogga module who was aided by another IS handler called Ahmed Taahaa.

Sources in the know said that Shazib and Taahaa had stayed in Chennai for about a month between January and February using fake credentials. The names of the suspects were identified after they traced the cap worn by Shazib to a shop in a mall in Chennai. The cap, which was abandoned by the bomber in Bengaluru after the blast, was reportedly bought by Taahaa, around January-end.

As per the NIA, Shazib hails from Masjid Road in Thirthahalli, Shivamogga district, and Taahaa from Fish Market Road, Soppu Gude, Thirthahalli Rural. Both "wanted" suspects have been termed "absconders" by the NIA.

The NIA has questioned seven jailed terror suspects so far in connection with the blast. The investigation agency had also obtained seven-day custody of a jailed terror suspect named Maaz Muneer Ahmed.

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