Post-Retirement Jobs of Top Government Officials With Reliance Group Stir Concerns Over Potential Conflict of Interest

WHAT IF TOP GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, such as the former Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) chief, former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) chief, heads of public-sector banks, or the former supreme court judges join a particular private business group after their retirement? Would it uphold the institutional autonomy and jurisdiction as enshrined in our constitution? Or does it create a potential conflict of interest while holding the government portfolio? These are the questions raised by the recent tweet of Mr. Prashant Bhushan—public interest lawyer and activist—where he presents a list of prominent former government or public sector officials serving as advisors, consultants or independent directors at major business conglomerates such as the Reliance.

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Since then, debates on social media have erupted over the “post-retirement” opportunity as an element of influence during service, with people expressing their opinions. This is however not the first instance of such a debate hitting the Indian populace. The aspect of “post-retirement” jobs as potential conflict of interest has been in contention since long, with the focus revolving around top court judges and bureaucrats. 

Who are the Notable Former Government Officials

Mr. Bhushan’s list clearly states a list of former officials, their retirement period and their subsequent appointment at the Reliance Group. 

1. Arundhati Bhattacharya, was the chairman of State bank of India till 2017. After her retirement, she was appointed as an independent director on the Reliance Industries Limited board in October 2018. 

2. In a similar fashion, just a year later, K.V Chowdary—former chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, and also the CVC Chief till 2019—joined the Reliance Industries Limited board as an independent director just four months after his retirement as the CVC. 

3. Sarthak Behuria, was the former chair of the state-managed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, and later at the Indian Oil Corporation. He retired in 2010, and then joined as a Senior Advisor in Reliance to provide strategic direction to its fuel-retail business.

4. Sanjiv Singh, also joined Reliance Industries Limited as Group President after his retirement on June 30, 2020. He was the former chairman of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), and joined Reliance just two months after his retirement.

5. Prabhat Singh served as the managing director and chief executive of Petronet LNG, and the earlier director of Marketing at Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL). He was superannuated in September 2020, and then joined the business leadership team of India Gas Solutions—a private limited with a 50:50 joint venture between Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and the UK-based energy firm bp.

6. D. Sengupta, former chairman of the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), joined the Board of Reliance General Insurance in 2005, after reportedly retiring in 2002.

7. A.K. Purwar was the chairman and managing director of the State Bank of India (SBI) till 2006. Within a year, he was appointed as an additional director of Reliance Communications in July 2007.

8. Justice Krishna Murari was appointed to Reliance-linked initiative Vantara’s independent governing council in September 2026. He was a judge of the supreme court of India retired in July 2023.

9. Rajiv Mehrishi, was a 1978 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who was the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India till 2020. He was appointed as a director on the board of Jio Financial Services in July 2023.

10. Kundapur Vaman Kamath, or K.V. Kamath was the former chief of ICICI Bank and a veteran banking expert, who is the Non-executive Chairman of Jio Financial Services.

11. M.K. Jain joined Reliance Industries as an adviser in March 2025, after retiring as the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India in June 2023.

Cooling Period of Former Government Employees

The list of former government officials joining Reliance or other private conglomerates is not exhaustive. In 2025, Kapil Raj, a 2009-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and former Joint Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) joined Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).  He had retired from public service on July 17, 2025, citing personal reasons, and went on to join the Reliance group. He was a notable figure in the Indian administrative and political scenario particularly after his supervised arrests of Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren. 

These instances, Prashant Bhushan claimed, raise the question of potential conflict of interest among the government employees while they are in service. “Former CVC chief, CAG chief, Bank chiefs, PSU chiefs, even Supreme Court judges joined Reliance, the company that they should have dealt with in some capacity as Regulators, after retirement. Shouldn’t there be a ban on such post retirement jobs which create conflicts of interest while in position?” wrote Prashant Bhushan on social media platform X.

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This concern is not new. Even the government's official vigilance agency, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) advocated for a mandatory cooling-off period and vigilance clearance for all retired government employees before they join any private sector. The CVC issued a directive in 2021, making the cooling-off period and clearance mandatory. Despite that, reports and news on former employees joining private companies are plentiful, with the political commentators, academics and activists repeatedly calling for stronger regulations on post-retirement employment.

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