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The trend was set during the second term of the UPA, between 2009 and 2014. And, now, the recruitment policy for top jobs in Coal India (CIL) and its group companies resembles a game of musical chairs. They are either left vacant or filled with a short-term outlook.
Take the case of the appointment of Anil Kumar Jha as chairman of CIL by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on May 18 — eight-and-a-half months after the last full-time chairman, Sutirtha Bhattacharya retired. Jha will be in the post for 20 months, till January 2020.
Repeating history
The state-owned miner faced a similar situation in February 2011 and April 2012 following the retirement of Partha Bhattacharyya after a tenure of over four years, as the selected candidate failed to pass through the vigilance screening.
On the brighter side, after some flip-flops, the government allowed NK Jha, a Senior Director on the CIL board to hold additional responsibility as CMD for nearly 10 months. Also, the next Chairman, S Narsing Rao, was 54 and was appointed to a full five-year term.
Uncertainty returned in May 2015. But that was due to the unexpected resignation of Rao, who decided to rejoin the Indian Administrative Service as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of the newly created state of Telangana. The appointment of Sutirtha Bhattacharya as his successor took approximately seven months.
A knotty task
Finding Bhattacharya’s successor has proved to be a little more complex that it should have been. In June 2017, the public enterprises selection board cancelled a panel of six candidates. The names included Gopal Singh, CMD, Central Coalfields Ltd and Anil Kumar Jha, then chairman of Mahanadi Coalfields.
Why PSEB cancelled the panel is a mystery. But the government handed over additional responsibility to Singh.
Seven months and two extensions later, Singh was unceremoniously removed from the position on April 20 with Suresh Kumar, an Additional Secretary in the Coal ministry, taking over the added responsibility.
The appointment of Jha as full-time chairman is a welcome step. As MCL chairman, he has been extremely successful. But one would wonder why the government didn’t zero in on Jha in the first instance.
Poor succession planning
“Its nothing but bad planning,” said a former top executive of the company, on condition of anonymity, citing numerous vacancies in top positions in the group.
Eastern Coalfields a CIL subsidiary is not only headless but has just one whole-time director against a provision for four. At Northern Coalfields (NCL) the position of Director-Personnel has been vacant since March and the selection process is still in the early stages. The Director-Finance will retire this month. Though PSEB has selected a candidate it is not known if he has got due approval to join the board.
At South Eastern Coalfields (SECL), chairman BR Reddy is due for retirement in June and there is no indication who his successor will be. Similar uncertainty prevails over the position of Director-Finance, which will fall vacant in July.
SECL already has one board position vacant following the exit of PK Sinha for the top job at NCL.
“Keeping board positions vacant became a norm,” said the former executive.
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