Chairman and Managing Director of state-owned Gas Authority of India ltd (GAIl) B C Tripathi has been given a five-year extension by the Government for the post. Official sources confirmed the development and said that the necessary orders have been dispatched.
His current term was to expire on July 31, 2014, and now after the extension, Tripathi, 53, will continue on the post till July 31, 2019. Incidentally he is the only chief of a major PSU entity to have won an extension of service in recent times. Directors, including chairmen, on the boards of public sector enterprises are appointed for five years or until the superannuation age of 60 years, whichever is earlier.
Upon completion of five years, an executive is eligible for an extension if there is time left for retirement. The Government had, however, denied extensions to Subir Raha of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), P Banerjee of GAIl, Sarthak Behuria of Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Ashok Sinha of Bharat Petroleum Corp. Tripathi, who is credited with turning GAIl into an aggressive gas marketing and transmission company, was considered the youngest chairman of a Navaratna PSU when he took over at GAIl at the age of 49 on August 1, 2009.
He had applied for the Chairman's post at ONGC and IOC, but did not go for the interviews conducted by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). Prior to taking over as CMD, Tripathi had served as Director of Marketing at GAIl from July 2007 to July 31, 2009. A mechanical engineering graduate from NIT, formerly known as Moti lai Nehru Regional Engineering College, Allahabad in 1982, Tripathi started his career with ONGC. He joined GAIl India during its inception in 1984 and was one of the initial team members involved in the construction and commissioning of the HVJ pipeline system. He has over 31 years of experience in the gas sector.