Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that nobody in his office or outside had faked his physical signature on any official file during his absence.
Mr. Vijayan was responding to a charge raised by the BJP that a signature of his in written form was found on an official file processed by his office on September 9, 2018. He was briefing the media on the COVID-19 situation.
BJP charge
BJP spokesperson Sandeep Warrier had alleged that Mr. Vijayan was in the U.S. at the time for treatment. It was physically impossible for Mr. Vijayan to put his signature on the file in person. Hence, the signature was a forgery. There could be more such forgeries.
M.V. Jayarajan, currently district secretary of the CPI(M) in Kannur, was the Chief Minister’s political secretary during the period, he said.
Mr. Warrier distributed an RTI copy of the file to journalists. It concerned the conduct of Malayalam Language Week celebrations.
The Chief Minister had left for the U.S. on September 2 and returned on September 23. Mr Warrier challenged Mr. Vijayan to explain the “manual signature” penned on the file during his absence.
CM’s explanation
However, Mr. Vijayan did not clarify Mr. Warrier’s allegation that the RTI copy of the file carried the his carefully inked signature and not an electronic imprimatur.
Mr. Vijayan flourished an I-Pad and said the CMO had sent the file to him in digital form. He had perused the electronic file on the device and affixed his signature digitally. The file had reached him in the U.S. on September 6. He had seen and signed it digitally on September 9.
A government order in 2013 had legalised file processing via e-office. The Chief Minister said he always used the system when he travelled outside the capital.
Slams Kunhalikutty
Mr. Vijayan said the “accuser” might be unaware of the e-office system. But, IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty indeed did. Mr. Kunhalikutty had echoed the BJP’s accusation in Kozhikode and had said the charge was serious enough to warrant a criminal investigation.
Mr. Vijayan said Mr Kunhalikutty’s statement indicated that the UDF was playing second fiddle to the BJP. “First, the BJP raises an issue, and soon the UDF leadership parrots the same. Both were trying to lay down a smokescreen of lies against the government,” he said.
