Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 27 (PTI) Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has hit back at Leader of Opposition in the Keralam Assembly Pinarayi Vijayan over his criticism of a recent high-level meeting involving the Lokayukta, saying the allegations were “misleading” and “not based on facts”.
In a Facebook post, Chennithala said Vijayan had alleged that he convened the meeting in Thiruvananthapuram and described it as a serious and anti-democratic attempt to bring the Lokayukta under the government’s control and undermine its independence.
“The allegation of the Leader of Opposition is like the old saying that what is known as black is being described as white,” Chennithala said.
He said he had not intervened as Home minister to convene the meeting and that it was held after the Lokayukta officially requested the government to do so, citing the need for urgent government intervention to remove administrative hurdles affecting its functioning.
Chennithala said similar meetings involving the Lokayukta had been held in the past.
He said a meeting was held on August 1, 2006, under then Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, with Lokayukta Justice K Sreedharan, Upa-Lokayuktas Justice N Krishnan Nair and Justice K A Mohammed Shafi, then Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and senior officials in attendance.
“At that time, you were the all-powerful party secretary, and the then Home minister was your trusted follower,” Chennithala said, referring to Vijayan.
He cited a meeting held on July 27, 2014, attended by then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Lokayukta Justice Pius C Kuriakose, the Upa-Lokayuktas, Home Secretary and Law Secretary.
“Did you come to know of any ‘subversion’ taking place there?” he asked.
Chennithala said the latest meeting was held on September 23 and was attended by Lokayukta Justice Anil Kumar, Upa-Lokayuktas Justice Ashok Menon and Justice Shercy, Home Department Additional Chief Secretary Minhaj Alam, Director General of Prosecution T Asif Ali, Law Secretary P N Vinod, Finance Additional Secretary M Geetha, Vigilance Additional Secretary Jose Kalathinkal and Lokayukta Registrar E Baiju, among others.
He said meetings between the government and constitutional or judicial institutions on administrative matters were routine, and pointed out that Vijayan had also held several meetings with High Court Chief Justices when he was CM.
Chennithala alleged that administrative matters concerning the Lokayukta had remained pending for the past 10 years and accused the previous government of not considering its requests.
He referred to the amendment that curtailed the powers of the Lokayukta and alleged that it was brought in when complaints, including allegations of abuse of power against former minister K T Jaleel, were pending before the Lokayukta.
Against this backdrop, Chennithala said the Lokayukta had requested that a meeting be convened, and the government agreed to it.
He said the Lokayukta raised nine matters at the meeting, including forwarding complaints and petitions received against government officials to it for investigation under Section 7(3) of the Kerala Lokayukta Act, 1999.
The other matters included expediting the framing of Contempt Rules related to the Lokayukta, providing facilities for its Special Attorney’s Office, purchasing vehicles for police personnel in its investigation wing and granting them uniform allowance.
The Lokayukta sought expediting notification of special rules governing the service conditions of its employees, notification of the Kerala Lokayukta (Filing of Statements of Property) Amendment Rules, 2024, relaxation of the ceiling limit for travel allowance and digitisation of its functioning, Chennithala said.
“If Pinarayi Vijayan closes his eyes and says it is dark, the darkness will be only for him,” Chennithala said. PTI TBA SSK
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