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Oil ministry withdraws Sibal's nomination from ONGC board
New Delhi: Faced with pposition from the law ministry and the department of public ednterprises, the petroleum ministry has decided to withdraw its earlier proposal to appoint additional government directors on the board of ONGC.

In April 2005, petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar had proposed appointing additional directors including Director General of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, V K Sibal, on ONGC's board to bring in technical expertise. Earlier this week, the ministry ordered the withdrawal of their nomination.

The move comes after the DPE upheld ONGC chairman Subir Raha's stand that the number of government directors cannot be raised to four. The law ministry also endorsed Raha's view that Sibal's appointment was in conflict with his role as the upstream regulator.

The proposal to appoint additional directors, including Sibal, on ONGC's board had generated a major controversy with Raha threatening to resign.

Last week Aiyar clarified that he did not initiate the proposal to appoint Sibal and blamed ministry officials for the controversy.

Heavy industries minister Santosh Mohan Dev too had publicly endorsed Raha's view that the number of government directors on company board cannot exceed two.
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Adhik Shirodkar ceases to be director on MTNL board
Mumbai: Adhik Shirodkar has ceased to be a part-time non-official director of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

In a communiqué to the Bombay Stock Exchange, MTNL said that Adhik Shirodkar had not been reappointed at MTNL's AGM.
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