Pune: Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited (PSDCL) has issued a gag order to its directors and has asked them not to share any details with the media when it comes to matters related to the company or its business.
Moreover, the company, in its agenda for the meeting to be held on July 27, mentioned that unless specifically permitted by the board of directors of the company or chairman or managing director of the company, the board members cannot speak to the media.
The gag order is said to be the part of the code of conduct binding on senior managers, and officials also.
Infuriated with the decision of the PSCDCL, opposition leader in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Chetan Tupe, who is the ex-officio director of the company, expressed displeasure over the code of conduct and asked how the company could issue a gag order to public representatives to stop them from raising issues in public interest.
The model code of conduct is part of the agenda of the board meeting to be held on Thursday. “If something wrong is going on in the company, then how can we connive at it. The company is already in the news for its wrong doing and if the public representatives are not allowed to raise issues with the media, then who will speak for the betterment of the company,” Tupe said.
He reiterated that the opposition leader of the PMC is an ex-officio director of the board of the company. “I will keep sharing details which are against the interest of the company with the media. Let them take whatever action they want to take against me,” he added.
He alleged that the agenda of the meetings are not shared with the board members in advance, and even the minutes of the meetings were made available just before the next meeting, so they can’t think on the minutes and discuss the wrong decisions in the board meetings. “I will oppose the gag order in the coming meeting,” he added.
