Maytas Infra director quits in haste

HYDERABAD: Maytas Infra���s whole time director, Chander Sheel Bansal, quit on Friday triggering a hasty appointment of B Narasimha Rao as additional director to retain the board headcount at three. The infrastructure firm could have plunged into a serious crisis with Bansal���s resignation as the firm would have been left with only two board directors.
However, at a board meeting called on a short notice, the firm appointed Rao with immediate effect.As per the Companies Act, 1956, every public company should have a minimum of three directors.
After Bansal���s resignation, the two people left on the board of directors would have been vice chairman B Teja Raju and independent director R P Raju. Rao now replaces Bansal, averting a crisis-like situation that the latter���s resignation would have triggered.
At the hastily convened board meeting on Friday, Bansal���s resignation was accepted. However, in a statement issued to the stock exchange, Teja Raju said that Bansal would continue to perform his duties as president transportation and oil and gas sector. The board also decided on the appointment of B Narasimha Rao as additional director with immediate effect.
The infrastructure firm���s top slot has been depleting since last month and there is no overall incharge ever since Ramalinga Raju���s confession on January 7 with Teja Raju staying away from the workplace for the last 20 days. Independent director R P Raju, is a medical doctor unfamiliar with the functioning of an infrastructure firm.
At Friday���s meeting, the board also accepted resignations that have been trickling in the whole of January. A day after Ramalinga Raju confessed to inflated balancesheets, Maytas Infra saw its first big resignation with R C Sinha, the firm���s chairman and independent director putting in his papers citing ���personal reasons������. The firm���s CEO and whole time director P K Madhav followed suit, resigning from his position on January 19 (with effect from January 14). The board also reviewed recent developments and decided to meet again shortly. It also advised employees to extend ���full support and cooperation������ in providing information to all governmental agencies carrying out inspections.
Bansal, who quit on Friday, is a Delhi College of Engineering product and has previously held positions of group general manager and board member in Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group of Dubai and that of managing director of Alstom���s Transport Sector in India, among others.