New Delhi: In a sudden development, the Railway Ministry on Thursday terminated the services of , National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) Managing Director Satish Agnihotri, who was in charge of the government's prestigious bullet train project. Rajendra Prasad, Director, Projects, NHSRCL, has been handed over the charge for three months.
Agnihotri’s appointment itself had made news when he was appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet by a special order that said ‘Agnihotri appointed by setting aside and with all relaxations as advertised for the vacancy post”.
Senior Railway officials said there were several allegations against Agnihotri, including misuse of official position and diverting funds in an unauthorised manner to a private company. They said the decision to terminate the services of Agnihotri came following a June 2 Lokpal court order directing the CBI to probe charges of a "quid pro quo" deal allegedly struck by the former NHSRCL MD with a private company during his nine-year tenure as CMD of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).
The Lokpal court has directed the CBI to "ascertain whether any offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, is made out" against Agnihotri and to submit the probe report to the Lokpal office within six months or before December 12, 2022.
"The competent authority has approved the termination of office of Satish Agnihotri. He has been directed to be relieved with immediate effect," read the July 7 letter of the Railway Board, addressed to the company secretary of the NHSRCL. NHSRCL is a joint venture of the Government of India and participating states for implementing high-speed rail projects.
Officials also alleged that Agnihotri took up a job in a private firm within a year of his retirement. This was in violation of government rules which prohibits retired officials from accepting commercial employment before one year of retirement without the Centre's approval.
Sources close to Agnihotri said that the senior bureaucrat has denied all the allegations and said that he had neither favoured a particular company nor his son worked in any firm which bagged such works. They said Agnihotri also asserted that he had written to the DoPT seeking a waiver of the one-year cooling-off period before joining the firm. Agnihotri refused to speak on the matter.
Officials said the complaints against him were made by one of his batchmates after he bagged the prestigious job of heading the NHSRCL, which is the implementing agency of the government's ambitious bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
A 1982-batch IRSE officer, Agnihotri joined NHSRCL in July 2021. Earlier, he was the chairman and managing director of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL). He has over 20 years of experience in the implementation of mega rail infrastructure projects. He also held the position of chairman, High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd (HSRC), a fully owned subsidiary of RVNL since its inception in July 2012 till August 2018. (Agencies)
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