Oil Ministry on Tuesday said, the appointment of permanent Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has been delayed due to procedural formalities. Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, R P N Singh said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that Public Enterprise Selection Board on October 19th last year selected Sudhir Vasudeva, head of offshore oil and gas fields of ONGC, to replace R S Sharma on January 31st. Mr. R S Sharma retired on the day attaining superannuation at the age of 60 years.

However, his appointment has not yet taken places as complaints were made against Vasudeva. Many of the complaints came on forged letterheads of Members of Parliament. Mr. Singh said the proposal for appointment of Vasudeva, has been forwarded to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. He added, proposal for appointment of Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC has been sent to the Department of Personnel and Training for obtaining the approval of the ACC.