Public sector BSNL will go in for a complete revamp of its Board of Directors next month. Already a list of 15 candidates has been forwarded to the Public Enterprises Selection Board. The ratification of Prithipal Singh, who is currently holding charge as the acting CMD, is also likely.Two posts of Kranti Kumar, Director Planning and Shabbir Ahmed, Director HRD fall vacant this month as the incumbents are due for superannuation. S.D. Saxena holding acting charge of Director Finance has yet to get ratification. V.P. Sinha holding acting charge of Director Commercial and and Marketing and Prithipal Singh who holds additional charge of Operations are all due for clearance.Strangely, while seniority and a two-year tenure till retirement are normal criteria for filling up posts on the Board, the list forwarded to the PESB has been done so with officers falling in the one-year tenure till retirement. Given the procedures of the government for selecting candidates and time taken to obtain clearance from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, some of these officials may have less than 12 months of their tenure.Sources say that earlier officials who had less than one year of service left were normally sent to the DoT in various senior slots. Continuity of business plans at the Board level of a PSU normally plays an important role in finalising of appointments especially at a time when there is cut throat competition from private players. As the largest telecom player in the market, such a large scale reshuffle will have an impact on the future of the PSU.
