New Delhi: The Alliance Government has joined Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Secretary of the Alliance Department of the Ministry of Renewable Energy, as Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Solar Energy Corporation (CMD).
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The appointment comes after Rameshwar Prasad Gupta was removed from the postal month before the end of his term on Saturday, a move that opposition Congress party tried on Monday to link with the U.S. indictment by the U.S. group through alleged bribery charges.
Sarangi will remain in his new post “until a formal incumbent or until further orders, whichever is earlier”.
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Sarangi, an IAS official in the 1994 batch of Odisha, was appointed secretary last month and in several other bureaucratic restructurings, after he served as Director General of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
In the notice on Saturday, the Department of Personnel and Training, the Cabinet Appointment Committee has approved the “termination of service” of Gupta, the CMD of SECI, and will take effect immediately. The notice does not cite any reason for termination.
The sudden withdrawal of CMD has attracted criticism from the Congress Party, which Jairam Ramesh, the secretary general of the Congress and Rajya Sabha member, described the move as a “trying to cover up” the so-called scam that led to Adani’s prosecution last year.
“The Public Sector Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was indicted on November 20, 2024, with U.S. authorities targeting Gautam Adani and his close associates at the expense. ₹According to reports, a price of $202.9 billion was subsequently offered to Indian government officials in exchange for the agreements and then the agreements were completed,” he said.
“In December 2024, Seci changed the way it launched a power tender in an implicit recognition of corruption. Now, the SECI occupation, appointed by the Modi government, was fired a month before his term of office a month before his tenure, and despite repeated exchanges and exchanges, they have done some way of doing other committees and conquered one committee in a way and conquered one committee in a way and came in a way. The highest level, Modani (citations to Modi and Adani) cannot be concealed,” Ramesh said in an article on X.
Adani Group and SECI did not immediately respond to mailed enquiries.
Of late, the state-run company has found itself embroiled in a few controversies, including its mention in the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) indictment of Adani Group for alleged bribery of about $250 million to secure power purchase agreements for solar energy projects in Andhra Pradesh, and the submission of fake bid documents by Reliance Power to SECI for a renewable energy tenderer.
Last November, U.S. attorneys sued Gautam Adani and other executives for alleged bribery. Speech Mint Gupta said in November that Seci would not review the order or initiate an investigation because there was no basis. He denied any misconduct.
On November 6, Seci banned Reliance Power and its subsidiary Reliance Nu Bess from participating in a bidding for a state-owned entity float for three years, due to alleged submission of forged documents. However, it later withdrew the order after the Delhi High Court suspended the company’s revocation.
SECI’s mission is to tender 20 GW of renewable energy projects annually over the next few years. The company also plans to build its own solar energy of 10 GW by fiscal 27.
Founded in 2011, SECI is an implementation agency for the development of solar, wind and hybrid projects to fulfill the country’s National Defined Contribution (NDC). To achieve this, SECI has released tenders to select renewable energy developers to establish projects in pan-India or state-specific countries.
