Arun Firodia, founder and chairman of the Kinetic Group of companies is declared as wilful defaulter by several banks and yet Vijay Kelkar recommended his name for Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India

Following directions from the Central Information Commission (CIC), the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has revealed that Vijay Kelkar, a key-functionary attached with the union finance ministry and himself an awardee of Padma Vibhushan, had recommended name of Arun Firodia, founder and chairman of the Kinetic Group of companies for Padma Shri. Earlier in January 2012, Mr Firodia was awarded Padma Shri from the trade and industry category.

According to a reply received by Subhash Chandra Agrawal under the Right to Information (RTI) Act what is more shocking various intelligence authorities including those attached with ministry of economic affairs also cleared Mr Firodia's name without any proper check. Several news-reports and website of Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd (CIBIL) have mentioned Mr Firodia and his daughter, Sulajja Firodia Motwani as being wilful bank-defaulters.

See the reply Mr Agarwal received under the RTI Act…
 

Padma Shri (also Padmashree) is the fourth highest civilian award in India and is awarded in recognition of their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the arts, education, industry, literature, science, sports, medicine, social service and public affairs. The selection criteria for the Padma awards, however, has been heavily criticised as many highly deserving people have been left out in order to favour certain individuals.

As Moneylife reported, despite all checks and balances, neither the committee nor agencies and regulators like Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Central Excise Intelligence (CEI), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) could find out Mr Firodia’s bank defaults.

Several banks have declared Mr Firodia a “wilful defaulter” continuously between 31 March 2005 and 31 March 2012 and yet his name was cleared. In a report available on the website of CIBIL, as of 31 March 2012, Mr Firodia's name has been shown associated with Kinetic Finance, Athena Financial Services, along with his daughter Sulajja Firodia Motwani. According to CIBIL data, as of 31st Match, Athena Financial Services has an outstanding of Rs54.60 crore, while Kinetic Finance owes Rs2.76 crore to debtors, mostly banks.

Demanding an enquiry in the clearance given by intelligence agencies and authorities to Mr Firodia for the Padma Shri award, Mr Agarwal said, "Exemplary stringent-most action should be taken against the irresponsible officers in these agencies having cleared Arun Firodia’s name for Padma Shri to prevent such carelessness by Intelligence Authorities in clearing names of Padma awardees in future. To save dignity of Padma awards, it should be immediately taken back from Arun Firodia. Surprisingly, the father-daughter duo have been turn-by-turn members of the governing-body of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), a union government-enterprise. Wilful bank-defaulters must not be allowed to hold posts in government-bodies."