Headless for a year,CMPFO finds few takers for top post

The countrys second largest retirement fund manager the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation

The countrys second largest retirement fund manager the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation CMPFO that manages savings of over 4 lakh subscribers has been headless for over a year and its wait for a full-time chief could get longer with few takers for the top post.

Concerned,the coal ministry has now approached the labour ministry to suggest suitable candidates from its various social security schemes such as the Employees Provident Fund Organisation EPFO,the Employees State Insurance Corporation ESIC and the Central Labour Commission.

Unfortunately,despite two advertisements being carried out,this ministry have not got sufficient and adequate response and hence,are unable to proceed further with the selection process, the coal ministry said in its letter,adding that it has decided to expand the field of consideration and would like names of some eligible candidates from the labour ministry.

The CMPFO has not had a full time Commissioner since January 2012 when the last incumbent AN Bhattacharjee completed his term. Since then,the coal ministry has given additional charge of the post to Kolkata headquartered coal controller Amrit Acharya.

The post,with a five year term,often does not excite many people as it is based out of Dhanbad,which is perceived as being a remote area with not adequate facilities, said a senior government official,adding that the coal ministry has now received some applications now,from which it may select a candidate.

The Dhanbad Jharkhand based organisation was set up under the CMP and Miscellaneous Act,1948 and covers 901 coal mines including those public sector giants such as Coal India Ltd as well as private sector firms including Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd. It has a membership of 4.34 lakh workers with a corpus of over Rs 50,000 crore.

The lack of an officiating head for the agency has also been highlighted by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Coal and Steel in a recent report. While observing that the vacancy at the highest level for a long time can cause bottlenecks in smooth functioning of the organisation besides lowering the morale of the workers of the organisation,the Committee desire that the process to fill vacancy be completed without any further delay, the panel had said in a

report tabled in Parliament in April this year.