NEW DELHI: The appointment of former Sebi chairman G N Bajpai on the board of beleaguered IL&FS has raised eyebrows, given his association with at least two companies that have been at the centre of controversy.Bajpai is on the board of a dozen Indian companies. He was also a former chairman of LIC.The 76-year-old was an independent director on the board of Kingfisher Airlines , which defaulted on loan repayment and tax dues, and has been probed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).In its report, SFIO — which has also been tasked with investigating IL&FS and its 169 associate companies — had adversely commented on the role of some of Kingfisher Airlines’ independent directors and their commercial links with the Vijay Mallya-promoted company. At present, the case is pending in court.The former regulator was also associated with MCX-SX, where he was part of the advisory board. MCX-SX was promoted by Financial Technologies (India) and MCX. The Jignesh Shah-promoted FTIL is facing government action as it was the promoter of NSEL, which is being investigated by SFIO.Bajpai did not respond to emails and phone calls on Tuesday and Wednesday.On Monday, the government hand-picked him along with five others — Uday Kotak Vineet Nayyar , G C Chaturvedi, Meera Shankar and Nand Kishore — as directors on the IL&FS board after it superseded its earlier board, citing mismanagement. The board is due to meet later this week.