The change is being made as per the direct instructions of the NOC board and it aims to check leakages like officials stealing oil in the name of technical loss, a source told Republica.[break] The rule has been incorporated in the new NOC Regulations that the NOC is finalizing at present.
“The board and the management have already agreed on the rule related to forcing corrupt officials repay the loss amount, and hence, will not be changed,” the source elaborated. However, they are yet to forge consensus on changes being suggested on issues related to human resources.
The NOC would enforce the new regulations once the board and the management converge on provisions related with NOC employees.
The new provision on recouping money from the wrongdoers was incorporated in the regulations mainly after the management faced problem in implementing the board´s recent decision to recoup some Rs 39.2 million that the employees at Amlekhgunj depot inflicted to NOC.
The NOC employees, including the chief and his deputy at Amlekhgunj depot, had inflicted 50 percent higher loss than the permitted limit over the span of last one year. During the period, the depot´s technical loss for petrol had soared to 0.8 percent (of total volume of oil it handled) from 0.57 percent and diesel to 0.7 percent from 0.4 percent of the limit.
However, a high-level team commissioned to study the case had tagged the loss as a ploy by NOC employees to steal oil from the depot and labeled it as a ´gross case of corruption and crime against the institution´.
As an action against the wrongdoers, the board had instructed the management to immediately take appropriate actions against them and force them to repay the amount they embezzled through oil theft. But the NOC management that had suspended 21 employees, including six officers, and fired three others working on contract basis during the course of investigation, has not yet implemented the board´s decision.
“The management faced problem because there is no legal provision on recouping loss amount from the wrongdoers,” said the source.
But more than the legal reasons, he said that the delay in implementation of the decision was due to strong resistance from the senior employees.
“As almost all senior staffs manned depots at one time or other and they failed to adhere to the norms related to technical loss, they have grouped together, pressing the management not to take any action,” the source said.
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