ISRO chairman Dr Shivan clarifies allegations surrounding his son’s recruitment in LPSC

Amidst allegations of irregular appointment at ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre at Valiyamala, Thiruvananthapuram, the space organisation’s chairman Dr K Shivan clarified that his son Siddharth got the job following rules and regulations.

Earlier, a complaint had been filed on the matter, claiming that LPSC director V Narayanan conspired to give Siddharth a job and appointed him before the resignation of Dr K Shivan as ISRO Chairman. On January 25, Siddharth was appointed at ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. According to reports, the Central Vigilance Commission has received a complaint that the appointment of Siddharth did not comply with the rules.

According to the complaint, Narayanan was in a hurry to appoint Siddharth before K Sivan resigned as the ISRO chairman. Sivan’s term as ISRO chairman was due to end on January 14 but was later extended by the central government for another year. It is alleged that Narayanan tried to expedite Sidharth’s appointment to the LPSC on the assumption that he too would be transferred to the VSSC if the ISRO chairman changes. However, reportedly, the ISRO chairman’s office said that the appointment was per procedures.

Last October, the application for the post of Scientist Engineer was invited and November 9 was the last date for submitting the online application for the post. The required educational qualification for the post was BTech in Electronics and Communication and an MTech in Very Large Scale Integration. According to reports, the explanation was that the application of Siddharth, an MTech graduate, was considered in compliance with all the rules and he secured the second rank in the merit list.

However, the complaint was that the post was created for Sivan’s son. Moreover, other sources indicate that the selection board disregarded the ISRO central recruitment board rules and regulations and did away with the written examination and jumped straight to the interview.