New Delhi:
Even as Life Insurance Corporation(LIC) is gearing up for a mega IPO during the current fiscal, MR Kumar, chairman,LIC, is set to get an extension of one or two years as government has extended the retirement age for the post from 60 to 62 as part of major overhaul in the selection criteria for the top post of the corporation.
Kumar, who was a zonal manger before being elevated to the post of the chairman of the LIC on March 14 , 2019, was slated to retire in this June end after reaching 60.
The new rules which were earlier proposed by the ministry of finance (MoF) and were approved by the the Appointments committee of Cabinet(ACC), headed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi,on April 22, says “the chairman, LIC may be appointed for period of three years, which was earlier five years, or till he/she attains the age of 62 years whichever is earlier.’’
It is not very clear now how many years Kumar will be granted extension till a specific letter to this effect from the MoF reaches the corporation.
Another important change in the new rules specifies that only managing directors of corporation are eligible for the selection of chairman whereas under the earlier norms, MDs , executive directors(EDs) and zonal managers (Selection Grade) were all eligible to be part of selection process for the post LIC chairmanship.
Further, the new rule clarifies that all MDs in position on the date of vacancy irrespective of experience as MD can compete for the chairmanship. Also no requirement of residual service of such candidate on the date of vacancy of chairman is required.
The earlier rule was that senior officials with minimum one year service as MD or two year's service as ED or ZM (Selection Grade) can only be considered for the selection of chairmanship of the corporation. Also they needed to have minimum two years of residual service on the date of vacancy.
Analysts believe that apart from the much needed continuity which is currently required at the top level of LIC which is at present preparing itself for a mamoth IPO of, in the range of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh crore, the government is laying down some of the rules for the appointment of LIC chairmanship in line with what it has already implemented in case of chairmanship of State Bank of India , the country’s largest bank.
Since, Arundhati Bhattacharya who was made chairperson of the bank in 2013, all the officials who have been made chairmen of the bank, have been given tenures beyond 60 years.
Dinesh Kumar Khera, 59, the current chairman of the bank has got a three year tenure since October 2020.
Similarly, his predecessor Rajneesh Kumar, at the age of 59 ,was appointed as the chairman of bank for three years.