Fierce competition for NMDC top job

New Delhi (PTI): Heads of five state-owned firms, one additional secretary and six director-level officials are among the fifteen in the fray for the top job in iron ore producer NMDC which is running headless for over a year now. Steel Ministry-appointed five-member committee, headed by Planning Commission member Arun Maira, will interview all the 15 on May 30, and recommend its choice to the Ministry which would subsequently forward it to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for its final say, sources said.

Sources said that among the applicants are Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India CMD M S Rana, MSTC CMD S K Tripathi, BCCL CMD Tapas Kumar Lahiri, Braithwaite & Co CMD S K Rishi and Engineering Projects (India) CMD S P S Bakshi. Incidentally, in July 2011, Rana was recommended by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) for heading the iron ore producer following superannuation of incumbent Rana Som on December 31, 2011. But, the Steel Ministry was not happy with the PESB's recommendation and instead gave company's Technical Director, N K Nanda, the additional charge of CMD. Following some issues that cropped up, SAIL Chairman C S Verma was subsequently given the additional task, who is now holding the fort. Thus, NMDC is sans a permanent CMD since retirement of Som on December 31, 2011. The Steel Ministry appointed the five-member search panel, which include Steel Secretary D R S Chaudhary and Personnel Secretary P K Mishra among others, in January this year for selecting the right candidate. Nanda is also in the fray this time along with NMDC's Production, Personnel and Finance Directors namely, Subimal Bose, Rabindra Singh and S Thiagrajan. Its Company Secretary and Executive Director K Raghavan and Executive Director for Business Development Atul Bhat also figure in the list. Rajiv Sharma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs also applied for the job. IISCO steel plant's Chief Executive Officer Narendra Kothari, Software Technology Parks of India's Director General Omkar Rai and Bird Group of Companies' managing Director Satish Chandra would also appear before the selection panel.