Anand Subramanian was drawing less than Rs 15 lakh per annum as on March 2013 in a subsidiary of Balmer & Lawrie and was in April 2016, drawing a compensation of Rs 4.21 crore per annum for part-time working as a Consultant with a designation of Group Operating Officer and Advisor to the CEO at NSE.
Subramanian was offered to join NSE in the role of Chief Strategic Advisor with effect from April 1, 2013.
At that material point of time he was VP Leasing & Repair Services of Transafe Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Balmer & Lawrie. His last drawn compensation was less than Rs 15 lakh per annum.
The only person who interviewed Anand Subramanian for his appointment was Chitra Ramkrishna, MD & CEO of NSE. There are no notings in the personnel file of Anand Subramanian in relation to his interview, an internal report found.
The position of Chief Strategic Advisor was neither advertised nor any other person was considered for the position.
Previous experience of Anand Subramanian was found not relevant to the position for which he was appointed by the NSE.
The compensation proposed for Anand Subramanian which was Rs 1.68 crore per annum, a significant multiple of his current compensation, i.e. Rs 15 lakh per annum, looked disproportionate and also that the compensation was for just part-time working as a Consultant for working four days in a week.
The NSE report questioned how Chief Strategic Advisor would be able to discharge his duties working on a part-time basis.
Compensation of Subramanian was increased from Rs 1.68 crore per annum to Rs 2.016 crore per annum with effect from April 1, 2014. The increase given was at the highest level (Rating as A+) in the organisation and there was no record of the evaluation of his performance.
The Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) was informed that as he directly reported to the CEO, the CEO evaluated him and recommended the enhancement.
In March 2015, Subramanian was again rated as A+ (no evidence for the basis) and was given a 15 percent increase. In addition, he was asked to work for five days a week instead of four days a week and given a pro-rated increase.
As such, his compensation went up to Rs 3.3327 crore per annum. In addition, he was re-designated as Group Operating Officer (GOO) and Advisor to MD with effect from April 1, 2015.
The re-designation was not tabled to the then NRC despite the fact that as per the provision of the Companies Act, 2013, he would have been a KMP and his redesignation would have needed an approval from the NRC.
There was no evidence on the file of his performance evaluation although he was consistently rated as a top performer.
Subramanian undertook several visits overseas. Applications were filed for his visa where he was mentioned as being a confirmed employee of NSE as opposed to being a consultant. The Board also noted that he travelled first class which was inconsistent with NSE Rules.
Subramanian made multiple travels to Chennai virtually over every weekend. This was explained as being on account of the fact that he was based out of Chennai and was required to come to Mumbai for work. The documentation showed that he was actually based out of Mumbai.
(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at sanjeev.s@ians.in)
Source : IANS