A Head-hunting committee, constituted to select the chairman of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), today decided against sending interview calls to executives from private firms like Shell and Blackstone, who had not formally applied for the job. The Search Committee, headed by Public Enterprise Selection Board chairman N K Sinha, will interview only the 27 candidates who have applied for the post, sources said.

The Committee could not, however, decide on the date of the interviews as former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar, one of the two outside members appointed on the head-hunting panel, was absent. Kelkar, due to whose unavailability the Search Committee could not hold a meeting after April 17, wanted to invite Shell India chairman Vikram Singh Mehta, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd managing director Swapan K Bhowmik, private equity firm Blackstone’s India chairman Akhil Gupta and a board member of engineering firm L&T for the interviews.

The interviews may take place in the first or second week of June, sources said.

The candidates who have applied include former joint secretary (petroleum and natural gas) Najeeb Jung and ONGC’s acting chairman R S Sharma. ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) managing director R S Butola, ONGC director (onshore) A K Hazarika, director (HR) A K Balyan, director (exploration) D K Pandey, director (technical) U N Bose and GAIL director (HR) M R Hingnikar are also in the fray.

Sources said that the April 17 meeting of the Search Committee was inconclusive, as Kelkar’s suggestion of inviting people who had not applied was not supported by Sinha and other members.

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