Kolkata: The government is likely to change the selection model for senior bank officers.

To start with, it will do away with the present practice of giving a big weightage to interviews while selecting public sector bank (PSB) chairmen. Critics of the existing selection process say the interview system, introduced in 2003, lacked fairness.

The government now plans to broad-base the number of selection yardsticks and put separate weightages to parameters like the candidate''s educational and professional qualifications or how he or she fared as an executive director.

In the proposed system, interviews would only be a part of the process rather than a major criterion for selection. The new system, if it comes into place, will minimise subjectivity in the selection procedure.

According to government sources, the Prime Minister''s Office has directed the ministry of finance to frame the guidelines.

However, it is still unclear as to what will happen to the candidates tipped to be elevated as CMDs from executive directors. The department of personnel and training is understood to have prescribed to go by seniority for the time being, at least until a comprehensive set of guidelines comes in place.