Zohra Chatterji, Additional Secretary in the Coal Ministry, is likely to become the next

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chief of Coal India, the country's biggest miner.

Chatterji's name has been recommended to the Cabinet for the post of acting Chairman of CIL, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told PTI. She is likely to be appointed as the Coal India (CIL) chief after the Cabinet approval, he added.

Chatterji, a 1979 batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, is also the government nominee director on board of Coal India.

"Once the proposal is cleared, Chatterji will assume the charge from February 1 as the present acting Chairman-cum- Managing Director N C Jha is scheduled to retire on January 31," a coal ministry official said.

If appointed, Chatterji would be the first woman to become the CMD of CIL, the world's largest coal producer which accounts for 80 per cent of the domestic output.

Earlier, Jaiswal had said that either Alok Perti, Secretary in the Coal Ministry, or Chatterji will take over as the acting CMD until a full-time chief is appointed.

The process of selecting a full-time CMD had begun early last year. Former Chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya retired on February 28 last year and N C Jha, Director, Technical, was given the additional charge of the CMD from March 1.

Jha was given extensions amid delays in vigilance clearance of contenders for the top post which included Tapas Kumar Lahiry, the Chairman on Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL), and CMD of Western Coalfields D C Garg.

Meanwhile, the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), which handles hiring for public sector firms, came out with a fresh advertisement last month, inviting applications from suitable candidates for the top post at CIL.