72 CMD, MD, Director posts lying vacant in PSUs right now: Minister

New Delhi: As many as 72 CMD, MD and whole-time director posts are lying vacant in PSUs as of now, said Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad on Monday. In a written response to a question raised in the Lok Sabha, Dr Karad told the House, "As per the information provided by PESB, as on 08-12-2022, 72 posts of CMDs/MDs/Whole Time Directors of CPSEs are vacant where selection process is underway through PESB/SCSC/CSB."

'Vacancy at top posts of PSUs, recruitment continuous process'

"Occurrence of the vacancies at top management positions in Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and their filling up is a continuous process. Though efforts are made to ensure that the board-level posts do not remain vacant for long, at any point in time, there would be some posts remaining vacant due to various reasons," said Karad.

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"However, for the smooth functioning of the organisation, any vacant board-level post is put under the additional charge of other serving officers," said Karad.

In a separate response submitted in the House, Dr Karad said, "Recently, all Ministries/Departments of the Central Government have been asked to take action in Mission Mode, to fill the existing vacancies in various Ministries / Departments and their Attached / Subordinate offices / Autonomous Bodies / Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) and Public Sector Banks (PSBs)."

'Lack of full-time appointees to top-level posts affects decision-making'

A senior industry source, who refused to be identified, told PSU Watch that giving interim charge of top-most posts to officers affects decision-making. "ONGC was functioning without a CMD for over a year until recently. And it is still functioning without a full-time Director (HR). These issues affect the day-to-day functioning of the company."

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