Plan panel on Wednesday said it has appointed civil rights activist Binayak Sen, convicted for sedition, on board of one of its steering committee to give input for 12th Plan (2012-17) on health related issues.
"We have appointed Binayak Sen as member of the steering committee on health to advice for 12th Plan. It was Planning Commission's proposal to appoint him," Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters here.
However, the Commission is yet to get a consent from Sen.
"He (Sen) has been taken on board of the committee. I am not sure whether he has agreed to it or not. I have not seen his response yet," Member Planning Commission on Health, Syeda Hameed said.
She said that Sen has been appointed on the important committee as ‘he has worked in the area of malnutrition in tribal children’.
"We need his input on malnutrition in tribal children while formulating the 12th Plan, " she added.
The 61-year old rights activist, a paediatrician, has worked in Chhattisgarh't tribal belt.
He has been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of sedition and links with Naxalites.
However, the Supreme Court granted him bail in April after which he was released from Raipur Jail.
Sen, the Vice-president of People's Union of Civil Liberties, was sentenced to life imprisonment along with Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha for colluding with the Maoists to establish a network to fight the state.
His conviction and sentence had led to outrage in many quarters, including international human rights bodies.
The 40-member steering committee on health is expected to hold its first meeting on May 25 or May 26.