Senior IAS officer and former Managing Director of Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) Sanjay Kaul has said that he had “absolutely no role in the processes related to the State’s bidding for Thiruvananthapuram International Airport and in roping in legal consultants M/s Amarchand Mangaldas. ”
He said that during the brief period that he had held the additional charge as MD, KSIDC, the government had asked the KSIDC to facilitate formation of a company, Trivandrum International Airport Ltd., to take part in the bidding for the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. Sharmila Mary Joseph was appointed MD KSIDC on “my selection by the Government of India to undergo a mandatory training course in New York, USA. I relinquished charge on January 1, 2019 to join the training course in Syracuse University, New York, USA, from January 2019 to May/June 2019.”
M/s Amarchand Mangaldas had been appointed as legal consultants vide a government order on January 4, 2019 issued by the Transport Department to support the Government of Kerala in the bid, at a time when he was already been relieved to join a training programme abroad, he said.
Mr. Kaul said the financial bid was uploaded by the Principal Secretary (Transport) on February 14, 2019. Again, both these activities took place after he was relieved from the KSIDC. He was not holding charge as MD, KSIDC, at the time when the financial bids were decided and uploaded as part of tender documents in February 2019.
‘Unfortunate’
“It is unfortunate that I was referred to, even by name, while raising these allegations without checking on the facts. The allegations by the Leader of the Opposition and members of the Opposition party have tarnished my image and caused undue anxiety and stress,” he said.
