Interview for ONGC chief's post next month

A head-hunting committee, constituted to select the chairman of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), today decided against sending interview calls to executives from private firms such as Shell and Blackstone who had not formally applied for the job.

The search committee, headed by Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) Chairman N K Sinha, will interview only the 27 candidates who had applied for the top job, sources said.

The committee, however, could not decide on the date of the interviews as former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar, one of the two outside members appointed on the head-hunting panel, was absent.

The interviews may take place in the first or second week of June, sources said.

Among the candidates who have applied include Najeeb Jung, a former joint secretary in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas, and R S Sharma, ONGC's acting chairman.

R S Butola, managing director of ONGC Videsh, ONGC director (onshore) A K Hazarika, director (HR) A K Balyan, director (exploration) D K Pandey, director (technical) U N Bose and GAIL director (HR) M R Hingnikar are also in the fray.

Sources said the April 17 meeting of the search committee was inconclusive, as Kelkar's suggestion of inviting people who had not applied was not supported by Sinha and other members.

A total of 27 candidates meet the eligibility criteria and all of them will be interviewed.

Sharma was the first choice of PESB in the initial interviews done in August 2006. Hazarika was the second best choice, but the Prime Minister's Office scrapped the panel and asked for a broader selection process by inviting candidates from private sector too.

The PMO did not make any adverse remarks against either Sharma or Hazarika but rather questioned the selection process, making it explicit that they were eligible for future selections.

Besides the ONGC directors and GAIL executive, Hindustan Petroleum's subsidiary Prize Petroleum CEO M N Prasad, Essar Oil Vice-President H N Belawat, Surya Roshi President B B Pradhan, Singareni Collieries director J V Dattatreyulu, Borosil Glass Works Director R V Pillai, Hubli Electric Supply Director (finance) K Muthupandian and Agasthya Biofarm India Chairman D Aravindakshan are among the other candidates who meet the eligibility criteria for the top job.

The official said prominent among the candidates is 56-year old Jung, who in 1995 resigned from the civil services after a 23-year stint to join the Asian Development Bank.

He was joint secretary (exploration) in early 1990s and is currently visiting fellow at the Oxford Energy Research Centre in London and also served as director (energy research) at Reliance Industries-funded Observer Research Foundation.Besides Jung, only Butola had not appeared for the August 2006 interviews conducted by PESB.