B Ashok is new Chairman of IOC

In the first top level appointment by the new government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have cleared appointment of B Ashok as the head of India's largest oil firm, Indian Oil Corporation.

Modi is believed to have signed on Ashok's appointment file before he left for Brazil to attend BRICS Summit, an oil ministry official said in New Delhi.

A formal order is likely to be issued tomorrow or latest by Wednesday, sources said. B Ashok, Executive Director (Retail Sales) at Indian Oil Corporation, was on October 9, 2013, chosen to head the company by government headhunters Public Enterprise Selection Board, but the previous United Progressive Alliance government could not appoint him before its tenure ended.

The Prime Minister's Office, where Ashok's appointment file was pending since May, had sought new Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's comments on the issue.

Pradhan last month consented to Ashok's appointment and the file was sent to the Department of Personnel

and Training for processing, he said.

With Modi's signature, the appointment has now been formally approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Ashok, 57, was to succeed R S Butola who retired from service on May 31 on attaining superannuation age of 60 years.

Since a full-time chairman was not appointed in time, R K Malhotra, Director (R&D) and senior most director on IOC board, was given additional charge.

Malhotra retired at June end and A M K Sinha, Director (Planning and Business Development) was given the additional charge.

Besides Ashok, IOC board will have all new faces going forward.

Sinha is due to retire by this month-end while P K Goyal, Director (Finance) will superannuate at August-end.

Sanjiv Singh joined the IOC board earlier this month when he took over as Director (Refineries) from Raj Kumar Ghosh who superannuated on June 30.

Director (Marketing) M Nene would demit office by the end of December. Director post is vacant and V S Okhde, the only the functional director on company board, will superannuate on January 31, 2015.