The Oil Ministry has proposed to increase the eligibility age and shorter tenure for the new Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC,India’s top oil and gas producer. The ministry took this decision after not being able to find any suitable candidate for the top job at ONGC.
In the memorandum sent to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on June 17, the oil ministry has proposed that any candidate to be eligible for consideration should not be more than 60 years of age on the date of occurrence of the vacancy. Currently, the minimum age prescribed for being eligible for the top job is 45 years and internal candidates need to have wo years of residual service from the date of vacancy and three years for external candidates. The ministry has also proposed an appointment for a period of three years from the date of joining instead of the present five-year term, according to the letter.
Let it be noted that the vacancy at ONGC arose after Shashi Shanker superannuated on March 31, 2021. If the proposal is accepted, then the current acting chairman, Alka Mittal, who otherwise would retire in August-end and was ineligible, would come under the zone of consideration.
