The Kerala Loka Ayukta on Friday ordered the State government to produce the documents relating to the controversial appointment of K.T. Adeeb, second cousin of Minority Welfare Minister K.T. Jaleel, as general manager of the Kerala State Minority Development Finance Corporation (KSMDFC) in 2018.
A division bench headed by Lok Ayukta Pius C. Kuriakose and Upa Lok Ayukta A.K. Basheer issued summons to Principal Secretary, General Administration Department, to produce under subpoena the records relating to the alleged case of nepotism and maladministration that had rattled the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
The court refused to call off the ongoing preliminary inquiry against the Minister and A.P. Abdul Wahab, the chairman of the Corporation. It dismissed the State's plea that the complaint against the respondents lacked merit.
However, it allowed the Special Attorney, Loka Ayukta, and Director General of Prosecutions C. Sreedharan Nair to submit a detailed statement on behalf of the government later.
The politically stormy case has its genesis in a complaint filed by V.K. Muhammad Shafi, a public interest litigant from Malappuram district. His counsel George Poonthottam accused Mr. Jaleel of having bent educational qualifications and broken subordinate service rules to appoint Mr. Adeeb, till then a private bank employee, as the general manager of the corporation.
In the process, Mr. Poonthottam said the Minister overlooked the applications of seven other better-qualified persons who had staked their claim for the post. The appointment lacked transparency, and the government did not advertise the vacancy as mandated by law, he said.
Moreover, Mr. Poonthottam alleged that the Minister had made the illegal appointment furtively when the State was in the grip of the floods in 2018. He also deposed that Mr. Wahab, among other respondents, had failed in their duty to protect the corporation and had tamely submitted to the personal interest of the Minister.
He pleaded that the court spearhead a detailed anti-corruption investigation into the matter and ban the respondents from holding public office if it found them guilty.
