New ONGC boss 'set to be named', ONGC

Release Date: 2011-06-08

The Indian government is finally set to name the new head of state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) following a stalled appointment process that has been dogged by trumped-up corruption allegations, according to a newspaper report.

The promotion of ONGC’s offshore director Sunil Vasudeva to chairman and managing director of the company is now only awaiting clearance from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet appointments committee, The Hindu reported.

He was earlier selected by a government panel for the top job after previous incumbent RS Sharma retired on 31 January. Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Jaipal Reddy has already given his approval to Vasudeva’s candidacy.

However, the formal appointment of 56-year-old Vasudeva has been delayed by almost six months following a change of guard at the Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry, where Reddy took over in January.

It has also been ensnared in charges of corruption levelled against in Vasudeva in letters purportedly written by MPs to the prime minister but which were apparently falsified, according to the newspaper.

Reddy put the appointment on hold in order to investigate the allegations. However, the MPs in whose names the letters were signed subsequently denied having written them, removing a major obstacle to Vasudeva’s nomination.

Vasudeva, a chemical engineering graduate from India’s National Institute of Technology who joined ONGC in 1976, is now set to fill the vacuum at the top of ONGC where onshore director AK Hazarika has been acting as caretaker boss since Sharma’s departure.

Type:	NORMAL
Company:	ONGC
Country:	India
Url:	http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article260087.eceb