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ICHR Chairman's stand challenged

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI NOV. 4. With the Human Resource Development Ministry yet to reveal its hand in the controversy over the appointment of ad hoc Member-Secretary at the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), a war of words appears to have broken out between the two main players - the Chairman, M.G.S. Narayanan, and the Government appointee, Kapil Kumar - with the latter now challenging the former's premise for denying him access to the office on the ground of "autonomy''.

In a letter to Council members, Prof. Kumar accused Prof. Narayanan of compromising the autonomy of ICHR. He alleged that the latter kept the Council in the dark over the entire sequence of events beginning with the decision of the former Member-Secretary, R.C. Agarwal, to leave ICHR.

Writing to the members as `Member-Secretary' in view of the Ministry's directives to the Chairman to this effect, Prof. Kumar has sought to keep them posted on what has transpired over the past month in his 17-page note; complete with all the letters that have gone back and forth between him and the Government. The letter details the manner in which he has been denied access to the office despite the Ministry's clear-cut directions to the Chairman to appoint him Member-Secretary.

This apart, Prof. Kumar has also challenged the procedure adopted by the Chairman in shortlisting a panel of names for permanent Member-Secretary. Referring to the postal consent that Prof. Narayanan had sought from the Council for the panel of names, Prof. Kumar said this violated not only ICHR rules but also a Supreme Court ruling on the time frame for securing consent via post.

While this letter was sent to Council members last Saturday, Prof. Kumar issued a statement today to counter Prof. Narayanan's explanation to the Ministry for not abiding by its successive directives to make the ad hoc appointment. Prof. Kumar has taken umbrage at being accused of making "wild and baseless allegations'' against Prof. Narayanan.

Though Prof. Narayanan has shown technical reasons for being unable to appoint Prof. Kumar, he has also made a passing reference to the "wild and baseless allegations'' made against him by the ad hoc `Member-Secretary' during a Council meeting to establish that it would be difficult for him to work effectively with such an individual. As a counter, Prof. Kumar's statement seeks to show that what was being described as "wild and baseless allegations'' were rooted in facts.

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