The Oil Ministry has proposed to increase the eligibility age as well as shorter tenure for the new Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
The following proposal has been raised after the government did not find any suitable candidate for the top job.
The ministry’s office memorandum sent on June 17 to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) states that as per the proposal, no candidate should be more than 60 years of age on the date of vacancy to be eligible for consideration.
The post fell vacant recently after Shashi Shankar retired on March 31, 2021.
At present, the minimum age prescribed to be eligible for the top job is 45 years. In addition, internal candidates need two years of remaining service as on the date of vacancy and three years for external candidates.
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The new proposal states that any eligible candidate who is not more than 60 years at the time of occurrence of the vacancy, which was April 1, 2021, should be considered eligible. That means the current acting president, Alka Mittal – due to retire at the end of August, will come under consideration.
Simultaneously, the ministry has also proposed appointment for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge instead of the present five-year term.
The selection for the top post will be done through a three-member exploration-cum-selection committee headed by PESB chairman and oil secretary and former IndianOil chairman B Ashok.
Earlier, the panel was constituted on February 4, but the terms are being decided now.
The ministry’s letter, referring to the PESB interview dated June 5, 2021, said, “Keeping in view the strategic importance and vision for the company and its future, the Board did not recommend any candidate and constituted a search committee.” decided to do.”
The panel was constituted on February 4, eight months after that recommendation.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved “consideration of officers of the Central Government, including the Armed Forces of the Union and the All India Services, for the post on immediate absorption basis”.
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“Energy security is important for the nation. ONGC as the National Oil Company (NOC) of India plays an important role in exploration. Its activities need to be significantly and rapidly scaled up. In the form of NOC, specially designed It is necessary to have ‘needle generis’ job description for ONGC to attract the best talent available,” it said.
If the proposal is accepted, it will open ground for former ONGC director (finance) Subhash Kumar as well as current acting chairman Alka Mittal. Both of them were otherwise ineligible for the post.
As per government practice, PESB recommends a name for the board level position at least three months before the vacancy arises. In the case of ONGC, PESB advertised and interviewed candidates after the retirement of Shashi Shankar on March 31, 2021.
With the retirement of Shashi Shankar, the finance director and senior-most director on the ONGC board – Subhash Kumar – was given the additional charge of chairman and managing director. When he retired on December 3, 2021, ONGC’s Director of Human Resources – Alka Mittal – was given additional charge. She will retire in August.
With the proposed age relaxation, other internal directors of ONGC will also become eligible.
With inputs from PTI