Rakesh Mohan stays on

new delhi : after days of speculation on the possible successor to dr rakesh mohan, advisor to the finance minister, the finance ministry on wednesday cancelled the order accepting his resignation. dr mohan was reportedly requested by sinha to stay on at least to see the budget through, and dr mohan acceded to the request. this means that dr mohan would stay on with the ministry till at least mid-march, after which he may either decide to move on to idfc as he originally planned, or complete the rest of his term. at present, dr mohan has completed one year out of his two-year term. interestingly, this is the second time that the finance ministry has prevailed upon dr mohan to stay on in the ministry. the first time round, dr mohan reportedly had differences with the finance secretary on the allocation of work though he did not formally put in his papers. this time too, dr mohan is supposed to be having the same problems, considering that he is advisor to the finance minister and not to the ministry, going strictly by his designation. dr mohan has however consistently denied such differences including to et, but ministry insiders say that the ministry's failure to consult the economic advisor on a regular basis on key economic issues is at the root of dr mohan's resignation and repeated threats to resign. from the finance ministry's point of view, dr mohan has no locus standi within the ministry's structure, as work is allocated to secretaries and secretary-level officials on the basis of a formal business allo-cation laid down by the cabinet secretariat. an economic advisor to the finance minister does not figure on this list, which permits other secretaries in the ministry to bypass him. under normal circumstances, dr mohan would have been automatically been designated chief economic advisor in the rank of a secretary to the government of india. this was the post occupied by former chief economic advisor, dr shankar acharya. unfortunately, dr mohan cannot be designated thus, as dr acharya is on a two-year sabbatical with icrier and has not put inhis papers. this queers the pitch as far as his successor is concerned. dr mohan had put in his papers a month ago and the finance minister had even formally announced his exit. however, after hunting around for an economic advisor for over a month, the finance minister seems to have decided to stay on with the current incumbent.

Rakesh Mohan stays on

AFTER days of speculation on the possible successor to Dr Rakesh Mohan, advisor to the finance minister, the finance ministry on Wednesday cancelled the order accepting his resignation.

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