HPCL Head Appointment: Govt. Uses Search-cum-Selection Committee

New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) The government has invited applications for the top job at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) as it looks to use the search-cum-selection committee route for the second time this year to find the head of a state-owned oil firm.

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) has invited applications from engineers, chartered accountants and cost accountants with postgraduate management degrees from leading institutions and having at least five years experience in leadership roles by September 14, according to an advertisement posted on its website.

"Selection shall be through a search-cum-selection committee," it said.

This after, the government headhunter PESB in June rejected all candidates it interviewed for the top job.

The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) on June 14 interviewed eight candidates, including a director on the HPCL board and managing director of Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), but rejected them all.

Now the search committee route has been taken that allows flexibility in selecting candidates.

The HPCL CMD post will fall vacant on September 1, 2024, when the incumbent Pushp Kumar Joshi retires on attaining a superannuation age of 60 years.

"The search-cum-selection committee may recommend relaxation in the eligibility, age and qualifications/experience criteria in respect of outstanding candidates," the advertisement said.

The minimum age for being eligible is 45 years with the requirement of internal candidates from HPCL having at least two years of service left before achieving retirement age of 60 years. External candidates must have 3 years of residual service as on the date of vacancy, the advertisement said.

Earlier this week, a similar search-cum-selection committee interviewed potential candidates for top job at Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and sent its recommendation to the oil ministry.

PESB, in May last year, did not make any recommendation for a replacement of current IOC chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, who was to retire after attaining 60 years of age in August 2023. The panel interviewed 10 candidates, including the then Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) managing director Arvind Kumar.

This was followed by a rare move. Vaidya, who took over as the chairman of India's biggest oil company on July 1, 2020, was "re-employment on a contract basis" for one year "beyond the date of his superannuation i.e. with effect from September 1, 2023, till August 31, 2024", according to an official order dated August 4, 2023.

As Vaidya's one-year extension comes to an end, the search committee on August 11 interviewed about a dozen candidates including at least three candidates who did not fulfil the eligibility criteria for having a minimum of 2/3 years of employment left but used its discretion in case of deserving candidates.

PESB, on June 3, 2021, none of the nine candidates, including senior bureaucrats Avinash Joshi and Niraj Verma and the then Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) director-finance Pomila Jaspal and ONGC director for technology and field services Om Prakash Singh suitable to head ONGC.

The ministry thereafter constituted a search-cum-selection panel and named Arun Kumar Singh. He was given a three-year term that ends in December 2025.

Prior to Vaidya, no chairman of a Maharatna PSU was given an extension beyond 60 years in recent years.

Existing rules for hiring board-level positions in PSUs allow consideration of candidature of an internal person with at least two years of service left before retirement and three years in case of outside candidates.