Bhandari to be on planning board till ’15

Till now,the post of vice-chairman of the Planning Board was co-terminus with the incumbent government.

Bhandari was appointed last month after the Chief Minister’s Office cleared the deck for his appointment. The state Planning department,however,wanted to know his status,his perks and privileges,and the length of his tenure and had written to the CMO.

The department had recommended that his tenure could be the remaining term of the previous vice-chairman Dr J S Bajaj or as the CM wishes.

“The CMO wrote back to the Planning department that the tenure of Bhandari will be for five years,which means from April 2010 to April 2015,and will enjoy the status of a Cabinet minister,” said an official.

Sources said Bhandari’s salary was Rs 40,000 per month,will get personal staff including a private secretary and private assistant,an office and official residence in Sector 39,Chandigarh,and a Toyota Camry car.

The post of the vice-president of the Planning Board fell vacant after Bajaj resigned as he contended for the Rajya Sabha,but did not get it.

Bhandari was the state BJP president before he was appointed to this post.

Media advisor to the chief minister Harcharan Bains said,“There are certain posts like the Markfed chairman which are not co-terminus with the tenure of the appointing government. However,it is left to the wisdom of the successive government to take an appropriate decision. In this case,however,we are confident that the contingency will not arise.”

Talking to The Indian Express,Rajinder Bhandari said,“We are sure our government will come back to power in the next Assembly elections.”

Sources said four chairmen of Industry and Traders’ Advisory Boards constituted by the state government,when it came to power in 2007,also enjoy Cabinet minister rank but their terms are for three years. The terms of chairmen of boards and corporations generally coincide with the tenure of the state government.

In the last Congress government,terms of a few chairmen were extended for a couple of years when the government was almost on the fag end of its tenure. But most of them left when the new government took over,said sources.