Sharma races ahead for ONGC top job

R S Sharma, acting chairman of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has been recommended as the full-time chairman and managing director of the company by a search committee headed by Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) Chairman N K Sinha.

The committee has also recommended Najeeb Jung, a former joint secretary in the oil ministry and currently director (energy research) of Reliance Industries-funded Observer Research Foundation (ORF), as its number two choice for the job, government sources said.

The recommendations will now go to the government's Appointments Committee, before a final decision is made.

In all, 28 candidates were called for the interview held over Tuesday and Wednesday. Sharma, along with 14 others were interviewed on Tuesday, while Jung and the remaining candidates appeared before the committee today.

Sharma has been the acting chairman of ONGC since May 2006, when then chairman Subir Raha's term was not extended. He was recommended for the top job in ONGC by the PESB on August 30, 2006, but the Prime Minister's Office had called for fresh interviews, saying the number of applicants for the top job in the country's largest oil exploration and production company should be widened.

Both Sharma and Jung could not be reached for comment, while Petroleum Minister Murli Deora declined to comment.