(PTI)
The government has declined Bhuwan Chandra Tripathi, the country’s longest-serving head of a major PSU, a third extension as Chairman and Managing Director of India’s biggest natural gas firm GAIL India Ltd, sources said.
Tripathi, 59, who was the youngest person to become a chairman of an oil and gas PSU in August 2009, completes his second five-year term on July 31 and was eligible for an extension till his date of superannuation on January 31 next year. Sources said the government has, however, declined an extension. While no official reason has been given for the denial of extension, he was the person who stood between plans of splitting GAIL into two by hiving-off gas pipeline or the marketing business into a separate unit for a possible sale to a strategic investor.
Widely rated as one of the finest CEOs in the petroleum sector in the country, Tripathi is credited with steering the GAIL through several challenging times in project management. He was the youngest chairman of a PSU when he in August 2009 took over as the head of GAIL and is the longest-serving one of a major PSU.
