New Delhi: Coal India will soon get a new Chairman after being without a regular chief for about six months, officials said.
"The order for his appointment will be made any time," an official close to the development said.
The PESB had last month recommended the name of S Bhattacharya, a 1985 batch IAS officer, for the post of Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Ltd, the world's largest miner.
The appointment of new chief will help the company to evolve strategies for achieving an annual coal production of 1 billion tonnes by 2019. Coal India had missed the production target of 482 million tonnes last fiscal, with an output of 462 MT.
Bhattacharya, CMD of Singareni Collieries Company, is widely viewed as a front runner for the job.
"Search-cum-Selection committee recommended the name (of S Bhattacharya) for the post of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Coal India Limited (CIL)," Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) said on its website.
Previous Chairman S Narsing Rao, an IAS officer of 1986 batch from Andhra Pradesh Cadre, had resigned in May when new state Telangana was formed
Additional Secretary (Coal) A K Dubey was given the additional charge as CMD of CIL from June 26.
The PESB recommended Bhattacharya's name from among 12 contenders who were interviewed for the key post.
Candidates interviewed included Nagendra Kumar, Director (Technical), Coal India, Gopal Singh CMD, Central Coalfields Ltd and N K Nanda, Director (Technical) NMDC, PESB said.
