The government is not finding it easy to fill the top job of the country’s second largest bank — Punjab National Bank. The finance ministry, which is hunting for a suitable candidate for the post of chairman and managing director, has tweaked the eligibility criteria before zeroing in on a few names. The post is lying vacant since the ex-chairman KC Chakraborty left the top job to join the Reserve Bank of India as the deputy governor.

A few candidates who have been shortlisted so far include Alok Mishra of Oriental Bank of Commerce, KR Kamath of Allahabad Bank, SK Goyal of UCO Bank, MV Nair of Union Bank and RP Singh of Punjab and Sindh Bank.

According to the present guidelines, only a CMD (chairman and managing director) with two years of residual service can fill the vacant position. He should also have completed one year as a CMD in the current job. However, none of the names satisfied the criteria. “We had to relax the norms a bit to make sure that these candidates qualify for the post. We have reduced the limit by six months,” said top sources in the ministry.

While RP Singh fulfils the original set of rules as well, he is an IAS officer and hence is unlikely to be considered.

KC Chakraborty, the ex-chairman and managing director of the bank, had left the top job last month to join Reserve Bank of India as the deputy governor. Since then the government is trying to find a replacement. KC Chakraborty had taken over PNB as its chairman in 2007.