CIL appoints N C Jha as Acting Chairman

State-run Coal India today said that Director (Technical) N C Jha will hold the additional charge of Chairman and Managing Director of the firm till further orders.

"... N C Jha, Director (Technical), Coal India (CIL), has assumed the additional charge of Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Coal India Ltd with effect from March 1, 2011, for a period of 3 months, or till regular appointment is made or until further orders, whichever is earlier," the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Jha took over after Partha S Bhattacharyya stepped down from the post on February 28 on attaining superannuation, the company said.

"Partha S Bhattacharyya, on attaining the age of superannuation, relinquished the charge or the office of Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the company with effect from February 28, 2011," it added.

Before assuming the charge of the CMD of CIL in 2006, Bhattacharyya was the CMD of Bharat Coking Coal, a subsidiary of CIL. He joined CIL as a management trainee in 1976.

The appointment of a full-time chairman CIL got delayed as the necessary clearances are yet to arrive for Tapas Kumar Lahiry, the Chairman of Bharat Coking Coal, who was tipped to take over from Bhattacharyya.

Lahiry emerged as the front-runner in the race for the top post at CIL when the selection process concluded in November. The other person that was shortlisted was D C Garg, the CMD of Western Coalfields.