The government is yet to relieve S Narsing Rao from the post of Coal India chairman and managing director even though he has been provisionally allotted the Telangana cadre by the the department of personnel and training (DoPT), a coal ministry official said.
Rao put his papers as CIL CMD last month and is awaiting government clearance before he can proceed to join the new state Telangana. CIL officials, said that Rao is officially on leave and may join from next week.
A coal ministry official confirmed the development but said that clearance is just a matter of time as the officer has been provisionally allotted the Telangana cadre along with 43 other IAS officials. Last week Rao said that he may join the new state as principal secretary.
Rao was not available for comment.
Rao, a 1986 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer who hails from the Telangana region, was appointed chief of CIL in April 2012 for a five-year tenure. He is due to retire in 2018.
Before joining Coal India, Rao was CMD of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd, owned by the Andhra Pradesh government and the Government of India on a 51:49 equity basis.
AK Dubey, additional secretary at the coal ministry, may be given additional CIL till a full time CMD is appointed by PESB.
CIL will have to appoint a full time CMD at the earliest as the company is in the midst of exercise to increase coal production and clear infrastructure projects key to help evacuation of coal.