Gourh has held this job since November 16, 1995, but was not confirmed after the first year since the then petroleum secretary Vijay Kelkar said his performance was not satisfactory and he needed to be kept on probation for one more year.

Given the serious nature of the allegations, at one point a few months ago, the ministry of petroleum even considered transferring Gourh to what they felt would be a less `sensitive' position. The proposal to do this pointed out that `As the officer in question is presently commanding control of assets worth Rs25,000 crore and is handling substantial amounts of expenditure incurred by ONGC, it is essential that a person with spotless integrity should be in position ... Since the allegations against him have not yet been established, it may not be possible to deny extension of tenure to the officer. .. However, if the allegations against him are established ... may cause embarrassment to ONGC and Government. ... in the meantime, he may be rotated to some other less sensitive Board level position in ONGC or its subsidiary i.e. MD, OVL'. That is, transfer Gourh to ONGC's subsidiary which deals with foreign work, ONGC Videsh Ltd and make him its managing director.

Interestingly, ONGC's chief B.C. Bora has almost washed his hands off the case. When asked to give his comments on the specific allegations against Gourh, Bora wrote back to the ministry saying that the cases all took place before he joined ONGC, and that after this there were no adverse cases against Gourh.

Nothing has happened of the move to transferGourh to OVL either, as this requires a specific approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). No case can be entertained by the ACC where a vigilance and/or a CBI enquiry is pending. In the event, the ministry has decided that Gourh will continue to be on probation, till the cases against him are either quashed or proved. Following this, a final decision will be taken. The ministry first began processing the papers for Gourh's confirmation around two years ago, and then wrote to Bora asking for a performance review.