BALASORE:With Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar intervening in controversial removal of Project Director of Agni-V Rajesh Kumar Gupta, questions have been raised over role and function of former DRDO chief Avinash Chander whose service contract was abruptly terminated earlier. It is suspected that Chander might have been sacked on the basis of a complaint lodged by Gupta, highlighting Chander’s irregularities.
While Gupta’s complaint was lodged before November last year, Chander was sacked on January 13, nearly 15 months prior to his contract.
Reliable sources said Gupta, who is also Associate Director of Hyderabad-based Advanced System Laboratory (ASL), had filed a complaint with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) against Chander citing various irregularities in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Besides, two more complaints against Chander were also lodged with the PMO with copies sent to National Security Advisor (NSA).
In its reply sought under RTI by former DRDO employee and activist Prabhu Dandriyal, the PMO stated that while the complaint lodged by Gupta is being looked into, two others have been sent to Cabinet Secretary for action.
Along with several other irregularities, it was alleged that Chander had appointed junior most scientist Tessy Thomas as Director of ASL by superseding other senior scientists working in different laboratories including ASL, Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) and Research Centre Imarat (RCI).
Chander had also allegedly favoured Tessy’s husband Saroj Kumar Patel and several companies that have been doing business with the DRDO. Patel, a retired Commodore of Indian Navy was appointed as Director, Quality, Reliability and Safety (QRS) at DRDO headquarters New Delhi.
Dandriyal claimed that applications for the post were invited through an advertisement in 2012. But it was cancelled by the then DRDO chief VK Saraswat. “After Chander became the DRDO chief, Patel was appointed in March last year and Thomas made the Director of ASL on July 25 same year,” he said.
As per practice, promotions are announced by August every year, but the list was held up till October, 2013 as the assessment committee did not clear the case of Thomas.
Though Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar clarified that Chander was removed to give an opportunity to younger scientists, the sources said corruption charges are the major reasons behind his departure. When contacted, Chander refused to comment. Efforts to contact Tessy proved futile.