PESB asks Centre to adopt appropriate plan for CIL CMD selection

New Delhi: Government head-hunter PESB has suggested that the Centre may choose an appropriate course of action for selection of CMD of Coal India Limited as it did not find any of the six candidates interviewed as fit for the top post.

Those who were interviewed are NTPC Director (finance) Kulamani Biswal, CCL CMD Gopal Singh, WCL CMD Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, MCL CMD Anil Kumar Jha, CMPDIL CMD Shekhar Saran and NMDC Director (commercial) Tanugula Ramakishan Rao, the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) said on its website.

"The board (PESB) did not find any candidate suitable for the post and recommended that the government may choose an appropriate course of further action for selection," it said.

The current Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Coal India, Sutirtha Bhattacharya, is scheduled to retire on August 31, according to a company official. Bhattacharya assumed charge as CMD on January 5, 2015. Prior to joining CIL, Bhattacharya was the CMD of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL). The PESB had recommended Bhattacharya's name from among 12 contenders who were interviewed for the key post.

CIL, which accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal production, is eyeing 1 billion tonne of production by 2020.