Department of Atomic Energy gives fellowship to close relative of chief K N Vyas

Senior BARC scientist Ramesh Chand Rannot is one of the eight recipients of the Department of Atomic Energy’s prestigious Raja Ramanna fellowship for 2021. This is hardly news but for the fact that Rannot is a close relative of K N Vyas, the DAE Secretary and Atomic Energy Commission chairman who is the final authority for any decision that the DAE takes.

This, according to a section of DAE scientists, was an example of “favouritism” and “conflict of interest” because of the close family ties between Vyas and Rannot.

From colleagues, Vyas and Rannot became relatives in 2016 when Vinay, the son of Vyas married Parul, the daughter of Rannot.

Vyas was the director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai before becoming the DAE Secretary in September 2018. Rannot, in 2019 became the Associate Physics Group Director of BARC, a position from which he superannuated in March 2020.

A week before Vyas's scheduled superannuation on May 2, 2021, DAE granted eight RRF positions including one to Rannot. When the decision was taken, it was not known whether Vyas would get an extension, which he eventually received with the Centre extending his tenure by another year (up to May 2, 2022).

"This is a case of blatant favouritism and a clear example of conflict of interest since Vyas and Rannot have family ties," said a retired DAE scientist who doesn't wish to be identified.

Neither Vyas nor Rannot responded to DH queries through email and text message on the allegation of favouritism in awarding the RRF.

DAE sources said the entire process of awarding the RRF — introduced in 2000 with the purpose of utlising the services of active/retired scientists, engineers and technologists, who have been involved in high-quality research — was so opaque that the department never released the names of the fellowship winners in any public document.

“In 21 years, the DAE has never disclosed the names of the RRF awardees. A committee chaired by the DAE Secretary finalises the names on the basis of nominations. But this is only a formality as nobody objects to any nomination made by the BARC director or preferred by the DAE Secretary,” said a scientist.

It took DH more than seven months to get the names of the RRF winners between 2017-2021 through the RTI process.

The DAE first flatly refused to disclose the names of the recipients responding to two RTI queries filed in June and December 2021, but finally had to share it in March 2022 when the appellate authority within the DAE gave a favourable ruling.

The department in its first response in July 2021 said the names of the fellowship recipients could not be disclosed because the information is “exempted from disclosure.” In January, 2022, the DAE responded with a single “no” on all queries related to the names of the RRF recipients and their research work.

The RRF carries a monthly honorarium of Rs 1 lakh and other perks over and above the monthly pension.

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