Smells like a scam: ONGC dealt with 14 firms secretly

In a application filed under RTI Act it became known that ONGC the public sector corporation entered in with 14 different client / firms for allegedly "dubious" gas deals .The Central Information Commission and has pulled up the Navratna giant, Oil And Natural Gas Corporation which sold gas to 14 consumers or companies between 1985 and 1992 without taking sufficient financial security.The CIC is miffed because the ONGC declined to name these 14 companies, despite these owing ONGC a principal arrear amount of Rs 16.18 crores. The interest between 1992 and 2004 has gone up to a whopping Rs 55.04 crores.Thus the total that the companies owe to the ONGC is a staggering Rs 71 crores. In a strong judgment, CIC has also blamed the corporation for making no earnest effort to recover the money."There seems to be a willful default by these companies and lack of effort on part of ONGC to recover the loan,” said Information Commissioner MM Ansari.An appeal filed by an individual called S K Jain was upheld by the CIC where he had demanded the names of these 14 defaulters be made public along with the amount they owed the ONGC separately.The commission sees no reason as to why these names should not be disclosed. This is perhaps for the first time that a public sector big name is facing the wrath of the CIC.This judgment by the central info commission should be seen as a wake up call for all those public sector companies who have displayed laxity while dealing with public money. Clearly it's the larger issue of accountability and responsibility concerning public sector companies which is on the information commission's radar.