The Hindu Business Line : Lawyer group questions Karnik’s appointment

Mumbai, Jan. 12 High-profile exits and the appointment of a governing board member of EMRI on to the reconstituted Satyam board are making EMRI the sub-plot in the larger fraud story now haunting the Hyderabad-based infotech company.

Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI), another Ramalinga Raju company, is at present in the eye of a storm as its erstwhile governing board member, Mr Kiran Karnik, had been appointed to the reconstituted Satyam board.

Raising the issue with the Centre, a group of lawyers called ‘Transparency in Contracts’ (TIC), have made a submission to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs seeking that the appointment of Mr Karnik be revoked.

Mr Karnik had resigned from the board of EMRI late last week and the newly reconstituted board has sought to put to rest suggestions of a conflict of interest. But EMRI has been under the scanner in the past too. Late last year, the Supreme Court had issued notices to the Centre, EMRI and 12 States following a petition challenging the privatisation of ambulance services or emergency response services.

The Apex Court’s notice was in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed by TIC and Ambulance Access Foundation India (that operates the 1298 ambulance service) challenging the award of these contracts by the 12 States to EMRI. The States included Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Goa, Assam, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The PIL alleged that there was no transparency in the manner in which the contracts for operating the emergency ambulance services were awarded. Further, it alleged that EMRI was set to withdraw about Rs 3,800 crore from public funds and gain access to about 600 acres of prime land in the States’ capitals and leading cities valued conservatively at Rs 1,800 crore, the petition said.

Against this backdrop, the lawyer group wrote to Mr Karnik asking him to recuse himself from the Satyam board. But even as the re-constituted board came to grips with the unfolding story at Satyam, the week began with TIC asking the Centre to revoke Mr Karnik’s appointment.