New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday annulled the appointment of R S Sharma as the Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India's most valuable company, and decided to hold fresh interviews for the post.
Sharma had been officiating as the CMD of ONGC since May-end 2006, when the government decided not to extend the term of Subir Raha. The Public Enterprise Selection Board had selected him for the top job on August 30, 2006. Sharma is also the director (finance) of the company.
According to official sources, he is likely to step down as acting CMD in a day or two.
"We received a fax communication late on Tuesday evening from the Department of Personnel and Training that Sharma's appointment has not been confirmed by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments," PTI quoted a government official as saying. He said fresh interviews will have to be done to select a new CMD.
According to the official, the DoPT did not list the reasons for scrapping Sharma's appointment.
A PTI report also said that Sharma's candidature had all necessary clearances from ministries of petroleum, home affairs and personnel. He also was given a vigilance clearance by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). "The file was turned down at the Prime Minister's Office," the official told PTI.
Interestingly, the Government did not consider giving a chance to AK Hazarika, Director (onshore) in ONGC, who was named the number two choice of the elite selection panel (PSEB). Hazarika had all the papers in order, but the government decided to hold the interviews afresh, the official said.
(With PTI inputs)
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