HYDERABAD: The suspense over the appointment of a fulltime chairman and managing director of the public sector Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd—the corporate entity of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant—appears to be heading to a finale, with a decision likely soon on the issuance of a formal appointment letter to Pradosh Kumar Rath as the CMD of the integrated, shore-based steel producer.Informed sources told ToI on Thursday that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) was in the process of clearing the appointment of Rath, who was selected as the CMD of RINL-VSP on 27 March. “The decision by the ACC is expected in the next few days,” the sources said.According to the appointments process, once the ACC, which is chaired by the prime minister, approves the appointment the approval is sent to the Union ministry of steel , the nodal ministry of all public sector steel manufacturers in the country. The joint secretary in the steel ministry issues the appointment letter to the selected candidate, which in the case of RINL-VSP is Rath, currently the director (operations) of the company.“The Central Vigilance Commission has cleared the name of Rath, so it is a matter of time before the ACC approves his appointment,” the sources, who requested anonymity, said.Rath was scheduled to assume the leadership of RINL-VSP on 1 June, with the incumbent, P. Madhusudan, retiring the previous day. However, since there was no formal communication about Rath’s appointment, Prabir Raychaudhary, director (commercial), assumed charge as interim CMD of RINL-VSP on 1 June."Sure, there are problems as can be expected when you have a situation where one senior executive (Rath) who has been appointed as a fulltime CMD, has to take a backseat to the interim CMD, so there is indeed some friction in the boardroom of RINL," the sources said.The friction, the sources said, was because Raychaudhary could not exercise complete supervision over RINL owing to status as the interim head of RINL, while Rath perforce needed to maintain a low-profile because he is yet to be formally approved as CMD by the government.“To Rath’s credit there has been no open warfare in the boardroom. Remember Rath has spent his entire professional career in RINL, having joined as a management trainee in 1983, but there is an undercurrent of tension because of competing egos. But Rath has demonstrated that he is a team-player, and has not allowed his ego to get the better of him. The tension will hopefully dissipate when Rath assumes charge as CMD,” the source said.

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