Over the last one month, Republica has exposed a couple of serious crimes in NOC: i) oil theft by the depot chief deputed to manage it and ii) NOC top brass flouting its own regulations as well as basic norms of Indian government to operate Nepali vehicles in India to support the transporters to evade taxes. It is a shame that the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies still has not taken concrete steps toward controlling foul deals and corruption in the corporation. This indifference of the governing ministry also indicates involvement of top officials there and even ministers in the anomalies. NOC like many other corporations has served as a place to recruit loyals of ministers. Because of its huge volume of transactions and operations in dark (lack of transparency), it is long infamous for corruption. In such a situation, chances are high of the Ministry dilly-dallying over the issue by forming a committee and doing nothing in the end. This must not happen. Both the crimes are of grave nature, and the government must intervene and land axe on the wrongdoers, including NOC top brass. Impunity breeds corruption and corruption in turn nourishes impunity. Hence, we urge the government not to let go the real culprits.
Long running anomalies in NOC would not end by taking mere one time action though. The government must take a series of policy interventions and implement the long-sought reforms. The first step must start from weeding out the corrupt staff, making its tankers and dealers hiring process transparent and breaking the strong nexus between NOC and players along the petroleum imports and retailing chain. To achieve it, the government must strap off NOC from the responsibility of functioning as the sectoral authority. NOC is an oil marketing company. Anomalies in it won’t be stopped if it continued to function as sectoral regulator. There must be a separate regulator to oversee NOC’s operations and overall petroleum sector to check wrongdoings. Simultaneously, the government must open the sector to the private players. This will create competitive pressure for NOC to reform. As price deregulation holds key to liberalize the sector, the government and political parties must show their statesmanship character and will. There is no alternative to ending NOC’s monopoly if the government wishes to ensure country’s oil security and good petroleum governance.
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