Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan is scheduled to lead the Indian delegation to the World Bank-International Monetary Fund meetings in Dubai, which begins on September 19.
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has decided to skip the Fund-Bank fall meetings being held for the first time in Dubai.
According to government sources, the other senior officials in the delegation include Finance Secretary DC Gupta, Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahiri, Additional Secretary, Fund Bank, BP Mishra and Additional Secretary, Expenditure and Budget, D Swarup.
The theme of the Fund-Bank meetings this year was expected to revolve around global development with emphasis on reaching the millennium development goals and strengthening the voice of least developed and developing countries in the multilateral forum, the sources said.
The sources, however, said the air was still not clear whether Jalan could continue as RBI governor having been nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
They said while a legal opinion was awaited, the fact that he was holding office as governor in a not-for-profit establishment provided a leeway allow him continue in office till the Fund-Bank meetings were over.
Y Venugopal Reddy, an Executive Director in IMF is expected to take over from Jalan after the Dubai meetings, they said.
If the legal opinion did not turn out to be in Jalan's favour, the senior most deputy governor in RBI Vepa Kamesan, would hold charge at the apex bank, the government sources pointed out.
That being the case, Kamesan would be part of the Indian delegation in place of Jalan, they said. The government was expected to clarify on Jalan's position during the week, they added.
While the Group of 24 (G-24) finance ministers' meeting is scheduled on September 20, the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF are scheduled on September 23 and September 24, respectively.
The World Bank's development committee meeting is slated for September 22.
There will be a series of seminars between September 20 and September 23 on wide-ranging issues like 'Foreign direct investment and developing country economies,' 'From Doha to Cancun: implications for development' and the 'Role of effective public communications in the success of economic and financial policies and reforms.'