by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Ex-CVC Chowdary Joins Reliance Board
Govt. surprised
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Oct 19
Former Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) K.V. Chowdary was nominated to the Board of directors of the country's flagship company Reliance Industries.
The Mukesh Ambani-owned company informed the Stock exchange of the key appointment. The company said that the board had appointed Chowdary as a non-executive additional director.
Chowdary, an officer of the Indian Revenue Service, was chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Later, the Modi government appointed him as the CVC from June 2015 to June 2019. His four-year tenure was marked by some controversy in relation to a handful of politically-sensitive cases, particularly with regard to the infighting in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2018.
There was considerable surprise and even dismay in the government over Chowdary joining the board of a private company after remaining as top watchdog.
Though there is no legal bar on any retired officer joining private sector except that they have to undergo one year cooling period after retirement. But Chowdary retired in June as CVC and did not complete the cooling off period.
