Selection committee suggests changes in age criteria, job tenure

New Delhi: In one of its kind, the head-hunter panel appointed to identify a regular chief for Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has suggested changes in the age eligibility of the probable candidates as well as the job tenure of the successful appointee.

The Search-cum-Selection Committee, nominated by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet to pick the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of national oil company ONGC, has proposed doing away with the age eligibility condition in terms of the residual service years of applicants provided they did not cross 60 years "on the date of occurrence of vacancy".

Kimbuong Kipgen, Secretary to the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), wrote last August 2021 that the post had fallen vacant on 1 April 2021 after the superannuation of Shashi Shanker a day before. The cut-off date would therefore be 31 March 2021 for those below 60 years on that day, to apply once the new norms are approved and advertised.

The Committee has also recommended lowering the service tenure of the selected CMD to three years instead of the current permissible tenure of five years. "Appointment shall be for a period of three years from the date of joining or until further orders, whichever is earlier," says the Petroleum Ministry's office memorandum to the Department of Personnel & Training.

The Ministry's note, approved by Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, says: "The applicant should not be more than 60 years of age on the date of occurrence of the vacancy." The DoPT will send it to the ACC for approval.

Earlier, the minimum age was 45 years of both internal and external candidates provided those in the former group had two years of residual service from the date of vacancy to their superannuation. In the case of external candidates, the residual service had to be three years until retirement.

Kipgen had proposed doing away with the "categorisation of candidates" as internal/external/sector/ central government/state public sector enterprises/private for the CMD. "The seniority of the candidates will not be a prime consideration for such shortlisting (as is being done presently for each category), and will be only merit based," he wrote on 18 August 2021.

Kipgen's thoughts are echoed in the Petroleum Ministry's memorandum of 17 June 2022 that "As an NOC, it is necessary to have a specially designed sui generis job description for ONGC in order to attract the best talent available".

ONGC's Director of Human Resources Alka Mittal was given additional charge of CMD after Subhash Kumar retired 31 December 2021. Subhash Kumar, Director (Finance), was given the additional charge of CMD after Shashi Shanker retired on 31 March 2021. ONGC has not appointed a full time CMD since the retirement of Shashi Shanker. The Search-cum-Selection Committee comprises PESB Chairperson, serving Petroleum Secretary, and B Ashok, former chairman of Indian Oil Corporation.