According to the PESB, candidates for the CIL chairman's post must now have a mining background and at least two years of service left.

This knocks out all candidates from the CIL board, and the subsidiaries, barring SK Sahay, chairman and managing director of Bharat Coking Coalfields Ltd. Also, the interviews are being delayed although they are traditionally held well in advance. Though lobbying is common for all top public sector posts, CIL sources said the delay this time has sparked off hectic lobbying by CIL's Schedule B officers who feel they have a chance. The Schedule B grade applies to the chairman and managing directors of CIL's eight subsidiaries aswell as the directors on the CIL board.

The sources said two former Union ministers of coal and also a prominent member of parliament from Bihar are trying to push through their candidates. The Bihar MP, who is backing Sahay, had earlier pushed through a third post of chief general manager for marketing to install R K Kumar.

The sources said a mining background had never been made mandatory for the chairman's post. In fact, the present chairman, Sengupta, has a background in finance and has been successful in turning around CIL after he took over in 1994. Similarly, earlier chairmen like M S Gujral, Gen. Grewal, and J J Kumarmangalam were not mining engineers. Among the headquarters brass knocked out of reckoning by the mining background criterion are technical director N C Sharma, finance director A K Chatterjee and personnel director C H Khisty.

The new specification about service period coupled with the delay in holding the interviews has eliminated the chances of S K Sen, CMD of Northern CoalfieldsLtd. Senior candidates like R C Goyal, the CMD of Eastern Coalfields Ltd, and S N Sharma, CMD of Mahanadi Coalfields, have a few months of service left. Among other contenders, G K Jha, the CMD of the South Eastern Coalfields Ltd, is a chemical engineer. B Akla, the CMD of Central Coalfields Ltd, has a mining background but is junior to Sahay. K C Vij of Western Coalfields Ltd is also out of the reckoning.

Coal India's headquarters in Calcutta are abuzz with rumours that union coal minister Dilip Ray will be moved out to make way for a new person. Although no official confirmation was available, the rumour has gained momentum after AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha demanded on last Thursday that all tainted ministers must be dropped from the government. The delay in holding the interview for the chairman's slot is being attributed to this uncertainity in the ministry.