The government has appointed former Coal Secretary A K Jain as the chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), a post that was lying vacant since December 2020.
“Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Anil Kumar Jain, retd. Secretary to the Government of India as Chairperson PNGRB for a period of five years from the date of assumption of charge of the post, or till attaining the age of 65 years or until further orders whichever is the earliest,” a government order said.
The last chairman of the oil and gas sector regulator was former chairman of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) D K Saraf, who retired as the PNGRB chief on December 3, 2020.
Former Oil Secretary Tarun Kapoor was also recommended for the role of PNGRB chief, but he was appointed as advisor to the Prime Minister and is looking after energy. Recently, the Energy Transition Advisory Committee (ETAC), which was headed by Kapoor, released a report on clean energy transition.
Profile
Jain, a 1986 batch Indian Administrative Service officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, retired as Coal Secretary on October 31, 2022. He has extensive experience in the energy and environment sectors.
He has worked as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) as well as on the rank of Joint Secretary and then Additional Secretary in the Niti Aayog handling energy. Jain also held the charge of Additional Secretary and Special Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change before taking up the role of Coal Secretary.