Indianmandarins has reliably learnt that nine candidates joined the race for Coal India CMD post. Reportedly, five senior civil servants also vied for the post. With the shortlisting process thus kicked in, speculations have begun about the prospects of each and every aspirant as also about who joined the race and who missed it. In addition to six top executives of CIL and its subsidiaries who had appeared before the PESB last year for a selection interview, four more have also been shortlisted. Surprisingly, many applicants are not seen in the reckoning. This list includes one senior IAS officer who once served as the CVO of CIL's biggest coal mining subsidiary. It may be mentioned that Central Coalfields Ltd chief Gopal Singh has been handling the additional charge of CMD of Coal India after Sutirtha Bhattacharya retired from the top post on August 31 this year. The Public Enterprises Selection Board had earlier suggested that the Centre may choose an appropriate course of action for the selection of Coal India CMD as it did not find fit any of the six candidates interviewed for the top post. Coal India, which accounts for over 80 percent of domestic coal production, is eyeing one billion tonnes of output by FY 2019-20.