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Journalism of Courage
The joint Legislature panel,which probed allegations against Opposition leader V S Achuthanandans son,has found that there was serious misuse of power,favouritism and gross irregularities in his appointment to key posts in the state HRD Institute when the CPM veteran was the chief minister.
The report,tabled in the Assembly on Thursday,found Achuthanandan and the then education minister M A Baby had bent rules to get postings for V A Arun Kumar as IHRD Joint Director,Additional Director and later as ICT Academy Director.
The tabling of the report,drawn up by the panel chaired by Congress MLA V D Satheesan,was marred with Opposition LDF members demanding that their dissent note be appended to the report which they said was unilateral. However,quoting rules of procedure,the ruling benches argued rules and precedents clearly showed any dissenting note should not be part of the final report of legislature committees.
Panel chairman V D Satheesan said the rules stipulated that a legislature committee was to been seen as an entity and if there was any dissent,a decision should be taken through voting and the exercise was completed at a committee meeting before the finalisation of draft. Speaker G Karthikeyan ruled that the decision of the panel chairman not to append the dissent note with the report was justifiable and in accordance with precedents in the Assembly. If the dissent note was allowed to be added to the report,it would weaken the impact of the findings,he said.
The Speaker,however,allowed the four Opposition members in the panel to table their note separately in the House. On the charge that the reports findings were leaked to the press before tabling it in the Assembly,he ruled it would amount to breach of privilege and contempt of the House.
Later addressing reporters,Satheesan said misuse of power,nepotism and procedural lapses were involved in all the appointments of Arun Kumar to key posts. No ordinary person can dream of getting these posts without adequate qualifications. Arun Kumar got these posts only because he was the then CMs son, he said. He said the committee was not leaving any recommendation as it was meant to be a fact-finding committee.
The nine-member committee,which included four LDF MLAs,was set up in July last following the allegation that Achuthanandan as the CM heading the previous LDF government had bent rules to favour his son. Senior CPM legislators P K Gurudasan and S Sarma told reporters that the report was part of a political agenda of the ruling UDF which was facing a tough fight in the Piravom Assembly bypolls to be held on March 17.
