No transparency as ONGC hires without adverts
ONGC insiders are concerned about management's decision to clandestinely interview six candidates for appointments at ONGC Videsh (OVL).
According to a source, three were interviewed for legal and three for IT roles in mid-July 2024. He adds no one knew about it except for the candidates and management.
Our source worries about the lack of transparency, adding that as many as 40 young executives have been recruited in this way since December 2023, flouting recruitment rules that some roles must be reserved for disadvantaged communities. He claims all the executives have been hired on a contract or retainer.
"How can we be sure that some of these placements from campus are not relatives of management or middle management or even vendors close to some officers?" asks an ONGC source. He adds that ONGC management asked up to 17 executives from IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade), IIT Roorkee and IIT Mumbai to join in the last week of June 2024.
"Neither detailed rules and regulations were made nor was the eligibility criteria fixed, and no relaxation of marks offered to include SC/ST (disadvantaged) groups," he says. "ONGC management has been hiring arbitrarily with impunity, and since 2018, it has not verified the roster with the SC/ST unions."
He claims that for years, ONGC has been lax in verifying rosters with the oil ministry and the SC/ST central working committee association to ensure proper representation of disadvantaged communities. In India, state-owned companies are expected to be transparent over recruitment and promotion and must follow government procedures, typically by publishing a recruitment advertisement in national newspapers.
Another source adds that the 40 executives recruited without a transparent process since December 2023 have been posted in business units for Mozambique, Venezuela and Russia. Seven hold geophysics and eight geology roles.
Eight petroleum engineers handpicked from the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad are spread across the technical group or different country units. Still unclear is if they have been posted abroad.