SAIL Vigil Mechanism : A Fancy Policy ; Merely a Showpiece with Zero Statutory Compliance
SAIL CMD Amerandu Prakash dumps Vigil Mechanism Policy
Secretarial Auditors, Agarwal S & Associates issues compliance certificate despite non-compliance
SAIL hides Data on Vigil Mechanism Complaints in the Annual Report. Thus, deceives, misleads & misguides various stakeholders including investors and Govt of India
Independent Directors; Government Nominee Directors; Ministry of Corporate Affairs; Ministry of Steel; Company Secretary SAIL; Secretarial and other Auditors : All playing in the hands of SAIL CMD Amerandu Prakash.
Vigil Mechanism Policy 2015 is available as merely a showpiece on the SAIL website (www.sail.co.in). Displaying the Policy on the website is the only compliance done by SAIL.
https://www.sail.co.in/sites/default/files/upload/2022-02/Vigil-Mechanism-050222.pdf
As per the published policy, to provide for necessary safeguards to protect Whistle Blowers from victimization, Vigil Mechanism Policy has been formulated under the following Statutory and Regulatory Provisions :
1. Sections 177(9) and 177 (10) of the Companies Act, 2013.
2. SEBI’s amended Clause 49 and 49(F) of the Listing Agreement (Listing Obligations & Disclosure Requirements)
3. The Guidelines on Corporate Governance for CPSEs issued by the Department of Public Enterprises vide O.M. dated 14.05.2010,
This mechanismprovides for adequate safeguards against
victimization of the complainant. The policy further goes to state that the
final action taken on the Complaint shall be conveyed to the Complainant within
six months.
Victimization and harassment complaint of Whistle Blower Rajeev Bhatia under Vigil Mechanism pending with SAIL since May 01, 2023.
Whistle Blower Rajeev Bhatia had lodged a complaint on May 01, 2023 under Vigil Mechanism regarding his victimization and harassment for exposing corruption of over Rs 400 Crores. In addition, the following 7 complaints have also been lodged by Bhatia under Vigil Mechanism.
None of the 8 complaints have been replied by SAIL till date. It has been gathered that the Whistle Blower Rajeev Bhatia on multiple occasions took the matter of above with Chairperson, Audit Committee : Sagi Kasi Viswanatha Raju; Designated Authority for Vigil Mechanism in SAIL : Director(Personnel), K K Singh; Independent Director : Ashok Tripathi; Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs : Deepti Gaur Mukerjee; Secretary, Ministry of Steel : Sandeep Paundrik; Government Nominee Director : Abhijeet Narendra; M.B. Balakrishnan : SAIL Company Secretary; CVO-SAIL : S N Gupta; Registrar of companies, Delhi where SAIL is registered under Companies Act; CPGRAMS; Chairman SAIL : Amerandu Prakash, but on all the occasions either no reply or completely arbitrary replies have been given on such a direct open and shut matter that his complaints are kept pending till date.
SAIL violates the statutory provisions and Narendra provides cover
An arbitrary, ill-conceived and ludicrous reply given by Abhijeet Narendra against a straight forward grievance / complaint lodged on CPGRAMS against the senior management of SAIL for keeping complaints lodged under Vigil Mechanism pending indefinitely, has been reproduced below. It is only a sample otherwise such whimsical replies from SAIL and Ministry are galore. As Govt Director on SAIL Board, Narendra could not muster courage to direct SAIL to furnish reply to the complainant which is mandatory as per policy. In our earlier news article, we have told you that despite having knowledge of the issue of steel supplies to a FAKE PROJECT : Venkatesh Infra Projects P Ltd, Narendra did not take any action to stop further supplies to FAKE PROJECTS. His pro-corruption and anti-Whistle Blower approach is clearly evident.
Despite not giving reply to any of the 8 complaints under Vigil Mechanism till date, in one of the grievances / complaints lodged on CPGRAMS Ministry has also replied “SAIL has informed that complaints received under the Vigil Mechanism have been dealt as per the procedure of the Vigil Mechanism and actions have been taken accordingly.” The reply is self-explanatory. We feel that readers are erudite enough to understand the Ministry and SAIL are not at all inclined to give reply to the complainant against any of his 8 complaints under Vigil Mechanism.
Role of Auditors Agarwal S. & Associates : Hand in glove with SAIL
Though none of the above complaints have been replied by SAIL till date but Secretarial Auditors, Agarwal S. & Associates, Company Secretaries, on July 07, 2024 and July 30, 2025 respectively for FY 2023-24 & FY 2024-25, certified that they have examined compliance with the applicable clauses of (a) The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Listing Obligations & Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 with National Stock Exchange of India Limited & BSE Limited and (b) DPE Guidelines on Corporate Governance for CPSE.
Their report is placed at Page 166 & 167 and Page 190 to 192 of the Annual Report of SAIL for FY 2023-24 & FY 2024-25 respectively. The same can be accessed through the following links.
https://www.sail.co.in/sites/default/files/ticker/2024-09/SAIL_Annual_Report2023-24.pdf
https://www.sail.co.in/sites/default/files/2025-08/Sail%20Annual%20Report_2025_%2825_08_2025%29.pdf
SAIL deceives, misleads & misguides various stakeholders including investors and Government of India; Government and Independent Directors join the misgovernance caravan
Being on SAIL Board since Apr 28, 2022, role of Government Director, Abhijeet Narendra seems to be highly contentious and dubious here as he has been nominated on the SAIL Board to look after interest of the Government and oversee the implementation of statutory regulations prescribed under various laws of the land including Companies Act, 2013, SEBI Guidelines & regulations and Guidelines on Corporate Governance for Central Public Sector Enterprises issued by the Department of Public Enterprises. It is a matter of serious investigation to know whether Narendra is acting by himself or is under someone’s instructions to decimate the Whistle Blower.
Tenure of Sagi Kasi Viswanatha Raju as Independent Director ended on Nov 16, 2024. Presently Pranoy Roy is the Chairperson, Audit Committee. In between when there was nobody at the helm of affairs, SAIL Board conspired to give premature retirement by unlawfully invoking Rule 56(j) to take revenge on the Whistle Blower Rajeev Bhatia.
It has been gathered that even now the Whistle Blower keeps sending emails at following emails requesting for reply to his complaints but no response has been received.
Vide
OM-F.No.18(11)/2016-MGMT dated Jan 24, 2020, Department of Public Enterprises
of Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises issued a detailed memo
regarding the role of Government Directors on the Boards of CPSEs. The same is
available at the link given below:
https://www.dpe.gov.in/static/uploads/2025/07/09c5c1ab48cc8909db8313265988b04b.pdf
To know about the other acts of Abhijeet Narendra as Government Directors on SAIL Board please click on the links below:
(The above article has been written based on extensive research and inputs from various sources including sources from SAIL)
