AFTER the receipt of a slew of complaints, the Board of Directors of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has terminated the services of its officiating Chief Executive Officer Ved Mani Tewari. The NSDC, meant to engage with industry to upgrade the skilling of an estimated 150 million people, is a unit under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
It is understood that the decision to curtail Tewari’s tenure —he took over in 2021— comes after a hastily convened Board meeting following which a tell-tale “notice” was issued informing the “general public” about the decision taken at the special meeting convened on May 15.
The notice, dated May 16, read: “Mr Ved Mani Tewari is no longer employed or associated in any other way with NSDC or any of its affiliates with effect from May 16.”
The following day, officials in the NSDC were sent an internal communication with “certified extracts” of the minutes of the Board meeting.
The communication stated that until the new CEO is appointed, there will be a committee comprising the NSDC’s key managerial personnel who will jointly exercise the financial and other powers as were given to Tewari as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and officiating CEO. The committee includes NSDC Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and its Vice President & Company Secretary.
When contacted by , Tewari did not respond to calls and messages.
It is understood that besides complaints with the Government, former NSDC officials and contractors have filed complaints in High Courts as well.
Some of the aspects of Tewari’s tenure under scanner, sources said, include the absence of a “consultative process” with the Ministry on key appointments in NSDC International. Moreover, records show, Tewari gave himself the position of a nominee Director on NSDC’s Board.
It was on April 4 that this appointment was cancelled.
In a letter written to the Company Secretary of NSDC, the Ministry named a new nominee Director for the Board under the category of “one person as may be decided by the administrative Ministry” in place of the current Government nominee who is Tewari himself.
Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries.
