Appointment of new CSIR chief on hold as govt gets second thoughts

NEW DELHI: Appointment of director-general of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research has been put on hold as PMO has sought legal opinion on allegations of conflict of interest against R A Mashelkar, a member of the search-cum-selection committee. Late last week cabinet secretary Ajit Seth met two of the search committee members M K Bhan and R Chidambaram to determine how to deal with the allegations.
Sources said it was decided that legal opinion should be sought. But the meeting also decided that government should go ahead with the appointment of Ashutosh Sharma as secretary of department of science & technology. The same search committee had selected, DG, CSIR and secretary, DST. “There is a general view in the search committee that Mashelkar’s involvement with Rajesh Gokhale’s company is too direct and cannot be brushed aside. Gokhale’s selection as DG, CSIR needs to be looked into. Search committee also wants to ensure if someone can go to court against Gokhale’s appointment,” sources said. Also, since two top government officials –Seth and P K Mishra, additional principal secretary to PM -- are part of the search committee, government is being cautious.
Mashelkar is chairman of the board of directors of Vyome Biosciences, a company started by Gokhale. Goverdhan Mehta had objected to Gokhale’s name on the ground that Mashelkar is part of the company. But it was brushed aside in the search committee meeting attended by Seth and Mishra. Gokhale was selected among other scientists like RC Bhudhani, director, National Physical Laboratory; Sourav Pal, director, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; Girish Sahni, director, Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh and Nalinaksh S Vyas, vice-chancellor, Rajasthan Technical University.