New Delhi:Energy major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has appointed Alka Mittal, the company's HR director, as Chairman & Managing Director (CMD).
Mittal would thus be the first woman to hold the charge in the company
ONGC confirmed Mittal's appointment on its official Twitter handle.
"ONGC Director (HR) Dr Alka Mittal has been entrusted with additional charge of ONGC CMD, making her the first woman to head the Energy major," the company tweeted.
ONGC, India's most valuable public sector firm by market capitalisation, was a company with no chairman and managing director by last Saturday after incumbent Subhash Kumar superannuated and the government did not immediately name his replacement.
Alka Mittal was the senior-most director on the ONGC board and the additional charge has, as such, gone to her.
Subhash Kumar, who was Director-Finance of ONGC had been since April last year holding the additional charge of CMD.
Earlier, a Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas order had given Anurag Sharma, Director (Onshore) with the additional charge of the post of Director (Finance) with effect from January 1, 2022.
As per the practice, the government appoints a replacement of a director or chairman on any public sector board at least a couple of months before his retirement.
However, in the case of ONGC, the practice wasn't followed. So, its last full-time head Shashi Shanker retired on March 31, 2021, with his replacement not even been selected. Kumar, who was the senior-most director on the board, had also been given the additional charge.
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