A year after the government headhunter failed to find any suitable candidate for the top job at ONGC, the oil ministry has proposed raising of eligibility age as well as a shorter tenure for the new chairman and managing director of India’s top oil and gas producer.

The ministry has proposed that any candidate to be eligible for consideration should not be more than 60 years of age on the date of occurrence of vacancy, according to the ministry’s office memorandum sent to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on June 17.

The vacancy arose after Shashi Shanker superannuated on March 31, 2021. Presently, the minimum age prescribed for being eligible for the top job is 45 years. Besides, internal candidates need to have two years of residual service as on the date of vacancy and three years for external candidates.

What the ministry has proposed now is that any eligible candidate who is not more than 60 years of age at the time of occurrence of vacancy, which was April 1, 2021, should be considered eligible. This would essentially mean that the current acting chairman, Alka Mittal, who otherwise would retire in August-end and was ineligible, would come under the zone of consideration.

As per existing rules, Mittal was not eligible for the post when the government headhunter interviewed candidates in June last year. The ministry has also proposed appointment for a period of three years instead of the present five-year term.