PlanCom seeks to shield PM from 2G scam-hit babu

PlanCom stated it cannot have a 2G scam tainted bureaucrat in a body directly under the PM.

The Planning Commission has refused the Department of Economic Affairs’ request to induct R K Chandolia as adviser in the apex body stating it cannot have a 2G scam-tainted bureaucrat in a body directly under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Chandolia,a 1984-batch officer of the Indian Economic Service,was removed as economic adviser in the Department of Telecommunications last Friday after the resignation of A Raja.

Government sources told ‘The Indian Express’ that the Planning Commission has told Kaushik Basu — Chief Economic Adviser,Ministry of Finance — that it cannot have Chandolia on deputation as an adviser in the body given his controversial reputation and his alleged role in the 2G scam. As the Department of Ecnomic Affairs is the cadre-controlling authority of all Economic Service officers,Basu was told that with PM Manmohan Singh heading the Planning Commission,there was no space for Chandolia.

Chandolia was private secretarty to Raja when he was the Union Environment Minister in the UPA-I government. The DMK Minister took Chandolia with him to the Department of Telecom after he was appointed as the Telecommunication Minister in UPA-II.

Chandolia first served as a joint secretary in DoT and later became the economic adviser to the Ministry with his focus on appointments in key DoT-administered PSUs and 2G allotments.

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