The appointments committee of the Cabinet on Thursday appointed Vinay Mittal as the railway board chairman, dashing minister of state in the railway ministry Mukul Roy?s hope of placing member mechanical Sajiv Handa on that position. Mittal, who was the South-Eastern Railway general manager before the appointment, will replace Vivek Sahai who superannuated on June 30. However, three other posts on the board that fell vacant on Thursday remained so till the time of going to press.
Roy, who is the general secretary of the All-India Trinamool Congress, had suggested Handa?s name for the new chairman of the national transporter even though he did not meet the eligibility criteria. As per the rules for appointment of the chairman, a person already on the railway board has to have at least one year of service left.
If the candidate is not on the board, then the minimum time to retirement should be two years. Handa has only eight months of service left as he retires at the end of February 2012. Mittal, on the other hand, has exactly two years of service left as he will superannuate in June 2013.