Thaindian News

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 20 (IANS) A lawmakers’ panel has found that there were procedural irregularities in the appointment of former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s son as the director of a state-run IT institute early this year.

A legislator on the nine-member committee told IANS on condition of anonymity that this information was received from senior bureaucrat T. Balakrishnan.

“Balakrishnan is now the custodian of all files regarding the formation on the state-run IT institute. It has now come to light that even before Achuthanandan’s son V.A. Arun Kumar was appointed the director, he had signed as director when the papers for the institute were sent for registration under the Charitable Institution Act,” said the legislator who is a member in the panel.

Balakrishnan is one of the 15 members who the panel has decided to summon to appear before it. The panel had its third sitting here Tuesday.

The others who will be called include Achuthanandan, Congress legislator P.C. Vishnunath and 12 others.

“Yes, we have found that there was wholesale violation of accepted norms and procedures in the appointment of Arun Kumar,” added the member.

Speaker G. Karthikeyan set up the committee in July. It is headed by Congress leader V.D. Sateeshan and includes four legislators each from the opposition and treasury benches.

The matter was first raised in the assembly July 12, when Vishnunath presented documents which allegedly showed that rules were violated during the Marxist veteran’s reign as the chief minister chose to appoint his son as director of the ICT Academy in February this year.

Achuthanandan, now leader of opposition, denied the charges and said the matter should be inquired by an assembly committee.

The issue came to light through a Right to Information (RTI) query by R.S. Sasikumar, at present a syndicate member of the Kerala University.