I used to affix 60 signatures a minute, says Chandy

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy arrives at the office of the G. Sivarajan Commission probing the solar scam in Kochi on Thursday

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that he did not often get time to read the petitions he received at mass contact programmes before signing them.

Deposing before the G. Sivarajan Commission probing the solar scam on Thursday, Mr. Chandy said he used to affix up to 60 signatures a minute while meeting people at his office during these programmes.

“Those days, I used to personally meet 500 to 1,000 persons who came to air their grievances at my office. I followed the practice of instructing officials to do whatever is possible to help them after listening to their grievances,” he said.

Mr. Chandy said the number of visitors rose up to 5,000 persons a day during the mass contact programmes. It was not possible to understand the background of every visitor and the details of their grievances during these sessions. The officials were asked to look into the complaints and furnish their reply on them. Certain norms were also framed for deciding on these petitions. The officials would have to be trusted in the process and it was not possible to personally go through all the complaints, he said.

Mr. Chandy said that he trusted all officials and believed that no one would cheat him. As the crowd increased day by day, the face-to-face sessions were moved out of the main block of the government Secretariat, he said.

The faces of the petitioners may not be registered in the mind while attending to their complaints, he said while replying to the cross-examination by B. Rajendran, general secretary of the All India Lawyers Union.

Denying the suggestion of Mr. Rajendran that he knew the scam accused Saritha S Nair and Biju Radhakrishnan since 2011, Mr. Chandy said one should not arrive at such a conclusion just because of the reason that he had acknowledged the contribution of money from them to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. Pointing out the inconsistencies in the statement of industrialist Mallelil Sreedharan Nair against him, Mr Chandy said Mr. Nair had made five different statements on five occasions.

John Joseph, another party in the case, too cross-examined Mr. Chandy.

Saritha S Nair, who occupied a seat at the back row of the chairs placed at the hall where the panel held its proceedings in the forenoon session, found a seat for herself facing the former Chief Minster in the post-lunch session. The commission will continue the cross-examination of Mr. Chandy on January 30.