Coal India names 3 independent directors, 4 vacancies remain

Mumbai: Coal India Ltd has named former coal secretary Alok Perti and two other people as independent directors after several months of vacancies that was criticized as the state-owned miner awaited several key decisions amid a scarcity of the fuel in India.

Perti was coal secretary till 2012. He then became an adviser to the coal ministry as it grappled with the coalfield allocations controversy, a lawsuit from a UK-based small shareholder and calls from the power sector for more supply agreements.

The other two independent directors, R.N. Trivedi and Kamal R. Gupta, served as independent directors earlier and have been reappointed while four other appointments are due.

The independent directors finished their tenures around August and are remembered for their resistance to several government policies and for forcing the company to soften some of the terms and conditions on the fuel-supply agreements with power producers to protect the profits of Coal India.

The next board meeting of the company is scheduled in the first week of December. The board has to consider the overseas asset purchase proposals and also the import of coal to meet the domestic shortfall.