Just days before the Lok Ayukta is set to consider petitions against the chief minister and the higher education minister, former minister K T Jaleel – who lost his ministership due to a Lok Ayukta verdict – made serious allegations on Facebook that the Lok Ayukta will “do anything for anyone for the right price” and “was a tool in the hands of UDF to stab the LDF government”.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Just days before the Lok Ayukta is set to consider petitions against the chief minister and the higher education minister, former minister K T Jaleel – who lost his ministership due to a Lok Ayukta verdict – made serious allegations on Facebook that the Lok Ayukta will “do anything for anyone for the right price” and “was a tool in the hands of UDF to stab the LDF government”.
In a Facebook post, without naming Lok Ayukta justice Cyriac Joseph, Jaleel wrote, “Documents of the verdict in a prominent case pronounced on January 25, 2005, and that of his (Joseph’s) brother’s wife taking over as vice-chancellor on November 15, 2004, are available in the public domain; but the media is turning a blind eye to the link between them.”
Jaleel then made another FB post clarifying that he was referring to the verdict in ice-cream parlour sex scandal case against IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty wherein Joseph was the one of the judges in the bench that acquitted Kunhalikutty, and the appointment of Jancy James, Joseph’s sister-in-law, as the vice-chancellor of MG University by the UDF government.
Referring to the probe in the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling case, Jaleel wrote that “after the probes by three central investigation agencies couldn’t find anything, UDF is trying to use the Lok Ayukta to stab the Pinarayi Vijayan government”. Hinting that Joseph is close to UDF, Jaleel said that he was recommended by Congress as a member of national human rights commission.
Supporting the proposed amendments to the Lok Ayukta Act, Jaleel said that people would not give any weightage to the demand that the Act, which is not prevalent with such vast powers in any other state, should prevail in Kerala.
On April 13, 2021, Jaleel -who was then the higher education and minority welfare minister in the previous LDF government – had to quit his post in wake of Lok Ayukta order that ruled that the charges of favouritism, nepotism and violation of oath of office was proved against him.
The division bench of the Kerala Lok Ayukta – including Lok Ayukta Cyriac Joseph and Upa-Lok Ayukta Harun Ul Rashid – had ordered that the minister should not continue in the post as his personal interest in getting his close relative appointed as general manager of Kerala state minority development finance corporation is evident from the chronology of events.
Under Section 14 of the Act, which is binding on the government, the court pronounced the minister guilty of abuse of power, favouritism, nepotism and violation of oath of office. The government is now gearing up to amend the section, so that the Lok Ayukta verdict is not binding on the government.
Two petitions – one against CM Pinarayi Vijayan regarding the sanction of funds from the CM’s distress relief fund, and against higher education minister R Bindu for re-appointment of Kannur university VC – are pending before the Lok Ayukta.
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