In the wake of controversy surrounding the appointment of National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) chairman arising out of tweaking the eligibility criteria to favour a retired bureaucrat, the post lies vacant thus badly impacting its functioning, more so, as the state biodiversity boards across the country require effective monitoring for compliance.

NBA is an autonomous body formed in 2003 under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, to regulate and advise the government on matters of conservation, sustainable use of biological resources and fair, equitable sharing of benefits. The NBA is based in Chennai and its chairman’s post is of the rank of secretary to the Government of India.

The problem has further compounded considering the fact that despite a uniform national-level guideline on benefit sharing for Ayush units likely to be notified by the Central Government shortly, only a few states in the country have been able to implement Biological Diversity Act. States like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, West Bengal and Maharashtra have been able to implement the Act towards sustainable use of bio-resources and benefit sharing.

In order to implement the Act, state biodiversity boards had started issuing notices to the Ayush manufacturers not registered with them, a few months ago, directing them to do so at the earliest.
 
According to sources, with reference to the advertisement seeking applications for the post of NBA chairman issued on October 4, 2013, changes in the eligibility criteria were made to favour a retired government official. The eligibility criteria demanded “30 years of experience in dealing with issues of science and social sciences, with at least 5 years of experience of working in the central/ state government at senior level including heading government institutions”. On the contrary, the ministry’s 2011 advertisement for the same post asked for 20 to 25 years of experience.

As per the provisions of the Biodiversity Act 2002, the post of the NBA chairman should be occupied by a person of eminence who is an expert in the field and merely being a retired bureaucrat may not fit the bill.

Now, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has cleared the appointment of Union Environment Secretary Dr V Rajagopalan as chairman of the NBA, even though his predecessor M Veerappa Moily had flagged conflict of interest in the selection process, whereby Rajagopalan virtually oversaw his own appointment.  Having initially approved Dr Rajagopalan’s selection as the next NBA chairman on May 5, Moily had called the file back.

As per DoPT rules, the search-and-selection committee should have recommended a panel of names for selection to the government. Instead, it recommended, without citing any reason, only Dr Rajagopalan’s name for the job. Seven out of 38 applicants were interviewed by the selection panel.

Following Javadekar’s approval, Dr Rajagopalan’s selection as NBA chairman is now awaiting the nod of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, now comprising the Prime Minister and Home Minister.