The G. Sivarajan Commission which had probed the solar scam has submitted its report, reportedly blaming the vulnerability of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s office for the scam.
The former Kerala High Court judge submitted the commission’s report, spread over four volumes, to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his office on Tuesday evening. Mr. Sivarajan refused to divulge details of the report to the waiting reporters, leaving it to the government to do so.
The Chief Minister also refused to go into the contents of the report. “We have received the report just now. We will tell you the details later,” he said. The Sivarajan commission was appointed on October 23, 2013, following a massive Opposition furore over the allegation that Biju Radhakrishnan and Saritha S. Nair, posing as solar power entrepreneurs, had befriended some of the personal staff members of the then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and used his office to gain credibility and get many persons trapped in the scam.
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The commission had taken evidence from Mr. Chandy himself at a hearing lasting around 14 hours. The commission had taken evidence from 216 witnesses. The commission’s tenure is set to end on Wednesday.
Chandy confident
Reacting to the development, Mr. Chandy told reporters that he was confident about the contents of the report. He had all along adopted an open approach and had left his office accessible to everyone. This had resulted in a person barging into his room and occupying his chair even as he chaired the Cabinet meeting.
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He was subjected to considerable ridicule over the issue, but almost the same thing happened when a stranger took up the mike and began to speak even as the then Leader of the Opposition (V.S. Achuthanandan) was invited to speak at an Opposition agitation in front of the Secretariat.
His government had taken an open approach because it had nothing to hide. He had himself appeared before the commission several times and given evidence for hours together, Mr. Chandy pointed out.