Bankers urged Union Finance Minister to fill up vacant post of directors in Nationalised Banks

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 15, 2021

The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) on Tuesday called for the filling up the vacant posts of 92 numbers in the Board of Directors of Nationalised Banks which have been vacant since 2014.

In a letter to Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance, the Association said that all the Nationalised Banks are being managed and administered by the respective Board of Directors of these Banks.

These Boards of Directors of the Banks consist of Directors like Chairman, Managing Director and Executive Directors as well as persons representing Government, Reserve Bank of India and importantly representing various interests and fields including the employees and officers of the Banks.

“We have been repeatedly pointing out that the posts of Workman Employee Director representing the employees and Director representing Officers have been unfilled and remain vacant for the past 7 years,” the letter informed.

As per their information, at present, there are unfilled posts of Directors in the Nationalised Banks namely Bank of Maharashtra 9 out of 15, Bank of Baroda 7 out of 17, Bank of India 9 out of 20, Canara Bank 8 out of 16.

The letter further informed in Central Bank of India 9 out of 16, Indian Bank 9 out of 16, Indian Overseas Bank 9 out of 15, Punjab & Sind Bank 8 out of 13, Punjab National Bank 8 out of 16, UCO Bank 8 out of 14 and Union Bank of India 7 out of 17

It will be appreciated that keeping such important posts of Directors of the Banks vacant and without filling up the same defeat the very purpose for which these posts were envisaged and created to take care of the varied interests and fields of banking operations of the Banks.

It also runs counter to the much-professed principles of good governance.

The Association point out that the posts of Workman Director and Officer Director representing the employees and officers of the Banks were incorporated in the Scheme since inception in 1970 and the same were being filled up for 44 years without interruption.

However, from 2014, ever since the NDA Government took over, these posts remain vacant.

Out of the 11 Nationalised Banks, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) is the verified Representative Union in 10 Banks and they have submitted the panel of names to the concerned Banks and the Government as prescribed in the Scheme but none of them have been appointed as Directors all these 7 years.

They learnt that all the names submitted by our Association for the purpose of appointment as Workman Directors have been duly recommended by the concerned Banks to the Department of Financial Services in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India and all these proposals and recommendations are pending consideration by the Government.

Thus, all the Boards of the Banks do not have these Workman and Officer Director.

Similar is the position in State Bank of India where also the posts of Workman Director and Office Director are unfilled.

Further as pointed and detailed above, many other posts of Directors are also kept vacant and Banks’ Boards are functioning with skeletal strength.