New Delhi, Jun 4 (IANS): The appointment of the new Chairman and Managing Director of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) has been deferred and a search committee in the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) will set up to finalise the candidate.

While some applicants were interviewed on Friday for the top job, keeping in view the strategic importance and vision for the company and its future, the board did not recommend any candidate and decided to constitute a search committee in the PESB.

The applicants who were interviewed in the selection meeting including ONGC's Director, Finance, Pomila Jaspal, Director, Technology & FS, Om Prakash Singh, Executive Directors Sandeep Gupta, Pankaj Kumar, and Omkar Nath Gyani, and Additional Director General, Anand Gupta.

There were also some non-ONGC candidates interviewed in the selection meeting, including Container Corporation of India's (CONCOR) Director Finance Manoj Kumar Dubey, and IAS officers Niraj Verma and Avinash Joshi, both of Principal Secretary rank.