An anti-corruption court here on Tuesday set a deadline of March 9 for the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to state whether or not Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) K.M. Abraham had abused his official position in the appointment of one P. Suresh Kumar as the director of the State-run Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD).
Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Vigilance, A. Baharudeen dismissed the agency’s argument that delay in getting documents from various universities in Tamil Nadu had impeded the quick verification ordered in January.
The precursory inquiry pertained to the 2015-16 period when Mr. Abraham was ACS, Higher Education Department (HED). B. Sreenivas, Secretary, HED, academician E.J. Hemmis, KSCSTE executive director Suresh Das, and IIT Madras professor P.B. Sunil Kumar are the other respondents in the complaint.
The petitioner, Anoop Ramachandran, a social worker, alleged that the respondents, all members on the selection committee tasked to appoint the director of the autonomous educational institution, had appointed Mr. Kumar as director, IHRD, through an opaque process that smacked of corruption, maladministration, and nepotism.
He said the committee did not publish a rank list though three other candidates had applied for the coveted post.
The committee did not assign any reason for their rejection. The complainant also alleged that the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy approved Mr. Kumar’s appointment on March 5, 2016 when the model code of conduct was in force.
