Even as the stressed assets in the country's banking system hit and exceed the unacceptable level of Rs eight lakh crores, the government seems to be more interested in finding sacrificial lambs than addressing the fundamental problems plaguing the PSBs. One had expected that after setting the Banks Board Bureau (BBB), government's holy ghosts may cease to function from the shady and dark bylanes of law and administration. That expectation stands belied, because of the government's excessive dependence on its old and rusted chain of communications. Take, for instance, the case of transfer of Punjab National Bank chief Usha Ananthasubramanian last week to the smaller Allahabad Bank. Likewise, Bank of India's Melwyn Rego was shifted to Syndicate Bank. The reason cited for their abrupt transfers was the unsatisfactory progress in the resolution of NPAs, even though it is admitted that both officials are honest and upright. Sources said the real reason for the transfer of these two officials was that their banks had put a spanner in the works of the Joint Lenders' Forum (JLF), thwarting a quick resolution of stressed corporate debt. Since the JLF is the preferred mechanism for credit decisions above Rs 100 crore, the two banks' opposition to JLF's haircut proposals for resolving some of the NPA issues, fearing CVC and CBI actions at a later stage, triggered their transfers. Instead of following transparent procedures and making it clear to the PSBs that their reasonable stand on haircut that is meant to prevent NPA formations would not expose them at a later stage to vigilance and CBI inquiries, the government did something worse: acting unilaterally, it did not consult either the boards of these banks or the Banks Board Bureau (BBB). Bankers speculate that HN Sinor, a member of the BBB, quit because of this. Of course, there is still no official confirmation about Sinor's exit. BBB Chairman Vinod Rai has reportedly said that "Yes, all kinds of rumors are floating around. I have not been contacted as yet. He is traveling abroad right now." PNB insiders reportedly feel that Ananthasubramanian's upright deeds might not have been to the liking of the government and its holy ghosts. This included her bold decision of PNB being the first bank to declare Vijay Mallya a "wilful defaulter" early in 2016. Under her stewardship, PNB has reportedly recovered as much as Rs20,000 crore from NPA accounts. This is no small achievement, said a banker. But as her transfer shows, what is good for the PNB may not be the right politics for the government. In the given situation, bankers are wondering whether the recent Ordinance enabling the Reserve Bank of India to tweak the JLF norms, among other things, could pave the ground for PSBs to win the raging battle against the mounting NPAs. The Ordinance provides that a debt-resolution package under the JLF can now go through if 60 per cent of the lenders approves it versus the 75 percent earlier. This was done because it was noticed that one or two banks repeatedly vetoed JLF decisions. But so long as the fear of the CVC and the CBI opening up dead cases against bankers hang ove