PTI reported that state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is likely to nominate one director on the board of recently acquired Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) while retaining all the present directors of the company. ONGC late last month completed acquisition of the government's 51.11 per cent stake in HPCL for INR 36,915 crore. HPCL is now a subsidiary of ONGC.

Sources privy to the development said that like its other major subsidiaries - Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and ONGC Videsh Ltd, ONGC is likely to nominate just one director on the board of HPCL.

Currently, HPCL board has four functional directors besides the Chairman and Managing Director. It also has two government nominee directors and six independent directors.

Sources said that the Articles of Association of HPCL provide for the board to be made up of a maximum of 20 directors, including independent ones.

They said that ONGC can, theoretically speaking, nominate more than one director but such nomination would have to be matched by an appointment of an equal number of independent directors.

They added that so, while ONGC can nominate 3 directors, it may eventually name only one.

MRPL and OVL both have just the ONGC Chairman and Managing Director on their board which has Managing Director and functional directors.

Both the firms have government nominee directors and so the two government nominee directors on HPCL board would also continue.