NEW DELHI: Government headhunter PESB has recommended N Franklin Jayakumar, the current director (Technical) of South Eastern Coalfields Ltd as the next chairman of Coal India arm Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL). This comes at a time when Coal India has missed its production target in the Q1, underscoring pressure on its arms to ramp up output, improve efficiency and address logistical bottlenecks.

Besides Jayakumar, 10 other people were in the race for the key post, as per the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) website. Jayakumar has over three decades of experience across coal and lignite mining. Prior to joining SECL, he served NLC India.