In the absence of an eligible Sikh candidate to head Punjab & Sind Bank after its current chairman and managing director GS Vedi retires on June 30 this year,the government might consider appointing a Sikh IAS officer for the top job. Days after the ministry of finance wrote a letter to the Prime Ministers office seeking its approval for appointing a non-Sikh as the head of the public sector bank,Tarlochan Singh,ex-chairman,National Commission for Minorities and currently a member of the Parliament,wrote to the finance minister suggesting that such a decision would hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community. Ive spoken with the finance minister on this and also written a letter. He has agreed to consider appointing a Sikh civil servant to run the bank until the government is able to zero in on an eligible Sikh banker for the job. There are a lot of candidates who will match the eligibility criteria for the top job in a few years, said Singh. Besides Singh,Avtar Singh Makkar,chief of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee,the apex gurdwara management body,also plans to write to the Prime Minister on this. Even though PSB has now become a nationalised bank,it should have a Sikh as its head. We still view it as a community bank and want to maintain its tradition, Makkar told The Indian Express. The bank was nationalised in 1980. In the past as well,the government has given additional charge to non-Sikhs to run the show in the absence of eligible candidates from the Sikh community. For instance,in 2005,the government had appointed RP Singh,an IAS officer,to head the bank. In 2004,Id written letters to the then RBI governer YV Reddy and finance minister Jaswant Singh regarding the same issue. The government then was very supportive and agreed to appoint a Sikh as the head. We expect something similar this time, added Singh. Punjab and Sindh Bank was started as a community bank more than a century ago in Amritsar and was nationalised in 1980. However,over the years,the bank has widened its branch network to 917 and has established a pan-India presence. Still,the community,largely,feels that the tradition should be maintained and a Sikh should run the bank.
