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Stock exchanges have imposed penalties on more than half a dozen public sector petroleum and gas companies, including Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and GAIL, for failing to meet listing norms. These companies have not complied with the listing norms regarding the required number of independent and women directors. Penalties imposed on companies by BSE and NSE are given in separate notices. However, he also pointed out that the directors are appointed by the government, and he has no say in this.
Who was fined how much?
ONGC has been fined Rs 3.36 lakh, IOC has been asked to pay a fine of Rs 5.36 lakh. On gas company GAIL Rs. 2.71 lakh, on Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) Rs. 3.59 lakh, on Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) Rs. 3.6 lakh, on Oil India Limited Rs. 5.37 lakh and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPLL) at Rs. 5.37. A fine of Rs.
Penalty for not having a woman director
The IOC has been fined for not having the required number of women directors on the board. Apart from this, all the companies have been fined for violating the norm of having the required number of independent directors. The IOC stated that the power to appoint directors (including independent and women directors) rests with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India.
“…and therefore the non-appointment of women independent directors on the board during the quarter ending June 30, 2023 was not due to any negligence/fault of the company,” it said. “Therefore, Indian Oil should not be held liable to pay the penalty and it should be waived,” the company said.
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The IOC said it regularly takes up the issue with the ministry for appointment of required number of independent directors (including women independent directors) to ensure adherence to norms for conduct of business. “We would also like to state that the company had earlier also received similar notices from BSE and NSE for imposition of penalty and the company’s requests were accommodated by the exchanges,” the company said.
HPCL also provided the same information to the stock exchanges and the stock exchanges cited the past record of waiving penalties. ONGC said it has requested the government to appoint the required number of independent directors on the board of the company.