Kerala government sidestepped a proposal for a Vigilance probe to look into the case of missing files of DLF Riverside Housing project and a few others. Instead, it asked the officials of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to write a letter to the former chairman of the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA) seeking files from him.
The case of missing files was reported at the KCZMA, which met at Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. It was also reported at the meeting that the officials of the department, which handles the office affairs of the authority, had written to V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, the former chairman of the KCZMA, requesting him to return the files, confirmed A. Ramachandran, a member of the authority.
The file pertaining to the Chilavannur project of DLF, which ran into over 1,000 pages, contained crucial information on various official communications, reports and findings and letters exchanged between various government agencies, including the Ministry of Environment and Forest, sources said. Incidentally, the High Court of Kerala is to hear an appeal against the Single Judge’s order to demolish the DLF apartments on May 22.
P. Marapandiyan, the former Principal Secretary, DST, who was holding the charge of the chairman of the KCZMA, had written a file note suggesting a probe by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau when the issue of missing files was reported by the officials. However, that suggestion was not taken up by the government, sources said.
