A day after the war of words between the Nair Service Society (NSS) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) hit a crescendo, the community organisation on Thursday asked that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan not to be peeved when confronted with facts.
In a statement, NSS general Secretary G. Sukumaran Nair questioned Mr. Vijayan’s statement with regard to the non-inclusion Mannathu Padmanabhan’s birth anniversary as a holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act. The organisation had made representations in this regard to the State government twice.
Govt. response
According to Mr. Nair, the first memorandum had elicited a response that the government was unable to consider the demand in view of its policy of not declaring new holidays.
The reply to the second request, however, had pointed to a directive by the Union Finance Ministry fixing the limit of holidays under the Act to a maximum of 15 days. But at the same time, it also stated that the total number of holidays declared by the State had already crossed this limit .
“In its response, the government replied that the demand put forth in the memorandum could not be allowed in view of the declaration of 18 holidays in 2018 and in line with the general policy of not declaring new holidays. This itself explains the hollowness in the Chief Minister’s statement,” Mr. Nair said.
He also sought to counter Mr. Vijayan’s claim attributing the delay in releasing of the forward caste list for the economic reservation to the model code of conduct. “It was based on a sub-petition moved by the NSS that the High Court has directed the State government to release the list,” added Mr. Nair.
