The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) inquiry that Keralam home minister Ramesh Chennithala ordered on October 4 against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar is linked to the World Bank-funded Kerala State Transport Project (KSTP), a road-upgrade programme from Kumar’s years as secretary of the state’s Public Works Department (PWD).
Chennithala said he ordered it after taking legal advice and consulting chief minister VD Satheesan .
The complaint comes from a Congress leader, and Keralam’s Congress-led government ordered the inquiry while the Congress and other Opposition parties are pressing for Kumar’s removal as CEC over the controversial electoral roll revision exercise. The LDF government of VS Achuthanandan , then in office, ordered several vigilance inquiries into the KSTP project, including the preliminary VACB inquiry into Kumar’s role. Kumar went on central deputation to Delhi that year. They must be examined. As far as I know, PATI-BEL did not want to continue with the project at the time and was fearful of the company’s name being maligned by a corruption probe. “I cannot become a mute spectator after receiving such a complaint. I have forwarded it to the vigilance director to go into the details of the complaint and take legal action. The BJP has asked that the inquiry also examine lapses by both the LDF and UDF governments during Kumar’s years in the state. At the time, both the LDF and the UDF ruled the state, one after the other. Both governments are seen to have given clearances to Kumar. Why did they not register a case against him? In contrast, despite ED submitting evidence against [former chief minister] Pinarayi Vijayan in the CMRL [Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited] case, the UDF only orders a preliminary inquiry instead of handing it over to the Vigilance wing.
TM Thomas Isaac, the CPI(M) leader who was finance minister in the 2006-11 LDF government, welcomed the new inquiry and said the country needed to know what happened in 2006. “The case files of the 2006 vigilance probe should be with the department. “This is a 20-year-old case.
The petitioner also claims the earlier inquiry in 2006 was compromised due to external influence.
Kerala home and vigilance minister Ramesh Chennithala said the engineer had written two notes and named Kumar in one of them. “He never came back to the state and the probe fizzled out,” Chennithala said. Chennithala called Venugopal’s complaint “serious” and said the government could not ignore such allegations against Kumar once they had been brought to its notice. That is serious too and needs to be examined,” he said. This shows two types of justice,” said BB Gopakumar, BJP MLA from Chathannoor.
But today, the circumstances are different and people can come forward with any evidence they have,” he said.
