The finance ministry has decided to depute government officials to fill the three vacant posts of executive directors in the Securities and Exchange Board of India. It had rejected a panel of names drawn up by the regulator after an elaborate selection process.

Twenty-odd people were interviewed for the posts, for which advertisements were placed by Sebi. Eight names were shortlisted, but were rejected by the finance ministry when doubts were raised about the track record of some of the candidates.

Government officials said the ministry had called for officers from different various services to be placed with Sebi on deputation. Of the seven posts of executive directors in Sebi, only three are in place: Pratip Kar, S Khelon and R S Loona, who recently replaced Dharmistha Rawal in the legal department. The officials said the appointment to one executive director's post had been kept 'in abeyance'.

The ministry is keen that with the increased mandate for Sebi, the selection process for the higher posts be made tougher.

Sebi has also started the process of increasing the number of general managers and chief general managers from the existing 47 to 60. This is being done to provide adequate staff for the enforcement and surveillance functions of the agency, the scope of which has been strengthened by the recent amendments to the Sebi Act.

The sources also added that the increase in the managerial staff had become necessary because the amended Sebi Act had doubled the number of members on the board to four.

In its representation to the Centre, the regulator had said the increase in personnel was essential to maintain a watch on the stock markets, which had grown more than what was envisaged in the early nineties when the Sebi Act was framed.

The joint parliamentary committee on the stock scam of 2001 had endorsed this point of view though it came down heavily on Sebi for its inability to check scams.