Govt leaves ONGC headless as musical chairs continue

NEW DELHI: For more than 24 hours since 5 p.m. on Friday, no one has been in charge of India’s most valuable public sector company, ONGC, as the government failed to appoint even an officiating chairman after incumbent Subhash Kumar superannuated.
It is quite likely that India’s flagship explorer, which accounts for the bulk of domestic oil and gas production and has annual capex plans in excess of Rs 30,000 crore, will continue to be headless for another 24 hours unless the government goes out of the way and orders someone to take charge on Sunday.
In normal circumstances, director (HR) Alka Mittal, the seniormost functional director on the board, would have been asked to take on the mantle from Kumar. While the oil ministry did no such thing, it issued an order on December 28 giving director (onshore) Anurag Sharma additional charge as director (finance) — which was Kumar’s job before he was given the additional role of chairman — from Saturday.