The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) has rejected government headhunter public enterprises selection board’s (PSEB's) recommendation for appointment of Gopal Singh as the chairman and managing director (CMD) of National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC). The ACC has also directed the PSEB to start afresh the selection process for the post. It, however, has not given any reason for rejecting the PSEB and steel ministry's recommendation.

PSEB had recommended the name of Gopal Singh, CMD of Central Coalfields, for NMDC's top post, which had fallen vacant after the retirement of Narendra Kothari on December 31, 2015. Additional secretary and financial adviser to steel ministry Bharathi S Sihag has been holding an additional charge since then.

Those interviewed for the top job included four directors of NMDC, two directors of SAIL, and one director each from RINL, CIL and HCL, apart from the CMD of HSCL, CCL and KIOCL.