Steel Ministry wants its Jt Secy as chief of NMDC

In a letter sent to the ACC the steel ministry has noted Verma needs to be relieved of the charge to devote full-time to his primary role as chairman of SAIL.

In this period,the Public Enterprises Selection Board and others had made more than one attempt for a chairman and managing director (CMD) for the company but those have been rebufffed by steel minister Beni Prasad Verma.

The board had selected MS Rana,CMD of Security Printing and Minting Corp Limited but Verma opposed it saying he did not have a mining background.

Two candidates were then selected by a panel chaired by Arun Maira. But the shortlisted candidates Tapas Kumar Lahiry,CMD Bharat Coking Coal Limited and Narendra Kothari,CEO of SAIL’s Burnpur plant too has apparently not found favour.

The ministry,on its part,decided to appoint SK Tripathi,currently chief of MSTC Limited,as the interim head of NMDC in July. But it was shot down by the ACC,as he is under CBI investigation.

After Som retired,the ministry had entrusted the charge of NMDC to its senior most director NK Nanda for three months but he had to be removed as the department of personnel and training objected to his continuation in the absence of clearance from the Central Vigilance Commission.

The CVC is inquiring into an allegation of irregularities in a tender pertaining to the company’s upcoming steel plant in Chhattisgarh. In May 2012,CS Verma was asked by the ACC to head NMDC.

Being headless for a lengthy period has taken a toll on the financial performance of the company.

NMDC has reported a 21 per cent dip in net profit in July-September quarter at Rs 1,318 crore on lower sales realisation due to subdued prices of the ores it sells.

Despite a rise in volumes of sales average sales realisation was down by 15 per cent in Q2. Turnover fell 5 per cent to Rs 2,480 crore during the quarter from Rs 2,612 crore a year ago.

The state-run company had clocked a profit of Rs 1,679 crore a year earlier,NMDC chairman CS Verma said. The company board has,however,recommended a 300 per cent interim dividend.

Running headless

* The country’s biggest iron ore mining company has been without a full-time chairman for nearly two years since December 2012. Chairman of SAIL CS Verma currently holds additional charge of NMDC

* In a letter sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet the steel ministry has noted Verma needs to be relieved of the charge to devote full-time to his primary role as chairman of SAIL