Extension for LIC chief? A test case for govt

When TS Vijayan, now the longest serving chairman of LIC, was appointed to the post in May 2006, he was given a five-year term till May 2011. At 53 then, he still had seven years to retire from the government-owned life insurer. Now very soon the government will have to take a call whether to give him another two years at LIC, make some other arrangement or let him retire two years before the prescribed age for superannuation. On Vijayan’s part, he has to overcome the taints from the recent scam that hit LIC as well as LIC Housing Finance, a subsidiary of the insurance major. For the government, Vijayan’s case will also be a test case since chiefs of two other PSU banks—MV Nair at Union Bank and KR Kamath at PNB—are also in a similar situation.