PESB interviews 9 candidates, finds no one suitable to head ONGC
Image credit:PTI
New Delhi: Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) on Friday did not find anyone suitable from nine candidates, including two serving IAS officers, to head India's largest oil and gas producer, ONGC NSE 0.76 %.
The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) interviewed 9 out of the 10 candidates who had applied for the post of Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
"Keeping in view the strategic importance and vision for the company and its future, the Board did not recommend any candidate and decided to constitute a Search Committee," PESB said in notice after interviews.
Those interviewed included senior bureaucrats Avinash Joshi and Niraj Verma.
Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) director-finance Pomila Jaspal and ONGC director for technology and field services Om Prakash Singh were the other prominent names who were interviewed, as per the PESB notice.
Both the bureaucrats are from the 1994 batch of IAS officers belonging to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. They both are principal secretaries in the Government of Assam, according to details available from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) website.
Others interviewed by PESB were ONGC executive directors Sandeep Gupta, Pankaj Kumar and Omkar Nath Gyani, ONGC additional director general Anand Gupta, and Container Corporation of India director-finance Manoj Kumar Dubey.
Security Printing and Minting Corp of India Ltd director-finance Ajay Agarwal, who had applied for the job, did not appear for the interview.
This is the second time in one-and-half decade that a suitable candidate was not found from among those who had applied.
In August 2006, PESB chose R S Sharma to head the company but the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in February 2017 vetoed his appointment as it wanted the selection process to be widened by inviting candidates from private sector./PTI
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