I was appointed on November 29, 2008, by the Governor of Jharkhand to be the Chancellor of the Jharkhand ICFAI University. It is a statutorily established institution and my appointment was under Section 13(1) of the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University Act, under the provisions of which the Governor is the Visitor. I received no compensation in cash or in kind other than reimbursement of my air fare between Chennai and Ranchi and the cost of hotel accommodation.

I have resigned from the post on 20/04/2010. I have never had anything to do with any of the business schools run by any organisation other than having been on the Board of Directors of Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Tiruchy, 20 years ago. I am not connected with any of the activities of ICFAI. My only touchstone in selecting topics for my column is public interest and nothing else. To the best of my ability, I check facts and follow the principle of fair-mindedness. At 84, there is no reason why I should entertain any malice or ill-will against anyone or any institution. I don't nor ever shall.

In the context of the column, I wish to add that I had sent an email message on the morning of March 5, to Dr Sriram Gopalakrishnan and Dr Ajit Rangnekar of the Indian School of Business about my intention to write the column, indicating the lines along which I was planning to do so, and saying that I shall be glad to take into account, and even mention in the piece, any comments that they or any spokesperson of the ISB had and that I shall wait till the evening of that day to hear from them. There was no response from them, however, until the morning of March 6 when I submitted the column for publication.

B. S. Raghavan, IAS (Retd)

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