New Delhi, Aug. 27 (PTI): V. Balakrishnan, the former CFO of Infosys, has said new chairman Nandan Nilekani should continue his stint for two-three years, while insisting that co-chair-turned-independent director Ravi Venkatesan step down and the Panaya reports be made public.

Balakrishnan says Nilekani will need some time to chart out a succession plan and ensure that the efforts of the company to be professionally-managed do not "fail again".

"It was a big experiment in 2014 with a professional board handling the company, the CEO replacing founders but because the board has not functioned well, that experiment failed," he said.

Balakrishnan added that Nilekani should focus on getting a good chairman "whenever he leaves in the future" to ensure that the "board is in safe hands".

"I think for 2-3 years he should be there because he has several things to do... Board recast, get a CEO, handhold him for sometime and create a succession plan for the chairman post. The (earlier) board was weak, it was not able to communicate well... the board was a big let-down," he said.

It has been two weeks of action for the country's second-largest software firm. A year-long stand-off between the founders and the management culminated in the sudden resignation of CEO Vishal Sikka as well as chairman R. Seshasayee and two other board members.

The developments also saw co-chair Ravi Venkatesan moving to the role of independent director and co-founder Nandan Nilekani coming in for a second innings at Infosys.

Balakrishnan, who has been one of the most vocal critics flagging alleged erosion in corporate governance standards at Infosys, also stuck to his demand that co-chair-turned-independent director Ravi Venkatesan should step down from the board.

"The first priority for him (Nilekani) should be to recast the board because whatever happened in the past, the position of some of the board members is untenable, like (that of) Ravi," he said.

On whether the company needed to make its stance clear on the reports of law and audit firms on the Panaya acquisition, Balakrishnan said Infosys should make the reports public. "I think the company should publish it," he said.

He added that Nilekani had just taken over and should be given adequate time to look into all the issues, including the Panaya deal.