With the post of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) chairman expected to fall vacant by August this year,the government has begun the process of shortlisting candidates for the post,which requires experience in the fields of infrastructure and finance. This is the second time that the selection process has commenced with the previous round having been abandoned in January this year. The post,which was circulated again,has received applications mostly from retiring bureaucrats as it promises an additional fixed tenure of five years with the government. According to sources,current secretary road transport and highways Brahm Dutt,existing chairman NHAI Brijeshwar Singh,ex-member NHAI K S Money and director general foreign trade R S Gujral are those candidates on the short-list that have applied again. Other two names include secretary micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) Dinesh Rai and urban development secretary M Ramachandran. Secretary civil aviation M Madhavan Nambiar has also applied for the job and is a strong candidate according to the qualifications set for it. While Brahm Dutt who hails from Karnataka cadre retires in July this year,Brijeshwar Singh from the Tamil Nadu cadre is retiring in August 2010. Dinesh Rai from Uttar Pradesh cadre is also retiring in August. However,DGFT Gujral,1976 Haryana cadre officer,still has about two years of service as he is expected to retire only in 2012. Ramachandran and Nambiar who are both secretaries of infrastructure ministries will also retire this year. The post which has a fixed tenure of five years,has an age limit of 65 years. A recent notification issued by the ministry of road transport and highways stipulates at least 15 years of experience in the field of finance and financial management for the job. According to the rule,the candidate should preferably have knowledge of financial markets and funding of infrastructure projects. The notification also stipulates that a person shall not be qualified for the post of the chairman unless he has held the post of secretary to the government of India or equivalent or is empaneled as secretary. The candidate must possess professional knowledge and experience in any of the areas pertaining to management,administration,law,finance and highway engineering. The post of the secretary is also falling vacant by the end of the month and the government is now hunting for a suitable candidate for the post.
