The Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB) fiasco is an issue that goes beyond the bank, the banking sector, the institutional processes by which private money is controlled by public authorities or even corporate governance. It, in a manner ironical, questions the issue of crony capitalism that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised last month.

True, it’s finally PSB that’s under fire, with Congress party thrust ‘independent directors’ slugging it out with the bank’s chairman R.P. Singh, trading charges in public. The independent directors, two of whom are likely to get marching orders anytime now with another three following suit, claim the bank’s management led by Singh is underselling the bank. Singh in an open press conference yesterday showed how these ‘independent’ directors are interfering in the day-to-day functioning of the bank and are currying favours for their political masters, colleagues, sympathisers. On the other hand, perhaps they’re only in the self-gratification mode. Truth is on its way out and we are tracking the story.

Ironically, this is happening at a time when corporate governance is getting to be more than a fashion statement, and the ongoing debate is moving from the brute numerical strength of the independent directors to their quality, independence and what they are expected to do. Yesterday, Premchand Gupta, minister for corporate affairs, said the strength of independent directors on a company’s board should be 33 per cent, clashing with Securities and Exchange Board of India’s Clause 49 norms, which say the number should be half if the company has an executive chairman (for a company with a non-executive chairman, the required strength is 33 per cent). But what can these statistics do when the very independence of directors is being questioned? How independent will a political nominee be (and we’re not even raising competency issues like knowledge or experience in banking — one of the independent worthies on the PSB board is a matriculate)?

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