New Delhi, Oct 3 : The government on Monday appointed Sudhir Vasudeva as the Chairman and Managing Director of State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Vasudeva, 57, is currently Director (Offshore) in ONGC.
The orders for the appointment of Vasudeva, who was selected by the Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) in interviews on October 19 last year, were issued by the Oil Ministry late Monday evening, a top government official said.
Vasudeva will head the nation's highest profit making firm till his retirement on January 31, 2014.
This follows Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approving of the appointment after Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) gave final clearance on all complaints received against Vasudeva.
A chemical engineer and a management graduate, Vasudeva joined ONGC as an executive trainee in 1976. After topping in his batch he steadily worked his way up, with majority of his assignments in offshore oilfields. He took over as Director (Offshore) of ONGC on February 1, 2009.
The top post at ONGC has been lying vacant since January end when R.S. Sharma retired on attaining superannuation at the age of 60 years.
PESB had on October 19 last year selected Vasudeva, head of offshore oil and gas fields of ONGC, to replace Sharma on January 31. However, his appointment was delayed after complaints, some of them on forged letterhead of Members of Parliament (MPs), were made against him.
Sources said the Oil Ministry had forwarded appointment of Vasudeva to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) after receiving necessary CVC clearances. However, some complaints reached Prime Minister's Office (PMO), which asked CVC to examine them. The CVC sent its final go-ahead on Friday. PTI
