KOZHIKODE: The Muslim Youth League has come out with more damning ‘evidence’ to prove the direct involvement of Minister K T Jaleel in changing the eligibility criteria for the post of General Manager in a PSU under his ministry and thereby facilitating the appointment of his relative to that post. Producing copies of the files that led to the appointment of the minister’s relative, MYL state general secretary P K Firos said the decision to alter the criteria had the endorsement of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Addressing a news conference here, Firos produced a note by K T Jaleel directing the GAD (Minority Welfare) Department to change the educational qualification prescribed for the post of General Manager in Kerala State Minorities Development Finance Corporation. The minister directed that the clause ‘graduate with MBA preferably with specialisation in Marketing and Finance or CS / CA/ ICWAI with three year’s experience’ be changed to ‘Graduate with MBA preferably with specialisation in Marketing and Finance or HR/CS/CA/ICWAI/BTech with PGDBA three years’ experience.’
“This clearly shows the minister directly intervened to change the eligibility criteria to facilitate the appointment of his relative K T Adeeb, a BTech graduate with PGDBA,” Firos said. However, the then Social Justice Secretary A Shajahan, who realised the implications of the action, recommended that the file is seen by the Chief Minister. The reason cited was that the original post creation and fixing of eligibility criteria were done on the basis of a Cabinet decision.
According to Firos, Jaleel tried to circumvent the secretary’s opinion, claiming it didn’t need Cabinet’s nod since it merely involved adding an additional qualification. “The minister was trying to mislead everyone. In fact, the basic qualification was being changed and it required the Cabinet’s assent,” said Firos
DYFI backs minister despite fresh evidence against him
Kozhikode: CPM youth wing DYFI has decided to back Minister K T Jaleel despite the Muslim Youth League coming out with fresh evidence on his direct involvement in changing the eligibility criteria for a top post in a PSU under his ministry and eventually facilitating the appointment of his relative to that post. The newly elected office bearers of the DYFI on Wednesday repeated their stance that they back the minister and said the explanation given by Jaleel in reply to the allegations raised against him are satisfactory. They termed Muslim Youth League’s attempts to expose Jaleel an instance of ‘vendetta politics’.
Nepotism row: Chennithala demands minister’s resignation
Thrissur: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala demanded the resignation of Higher Education and Minority Affairs Minister K T Jaleel over the nepotism row. “Now that the evidences justify the allegations, Jaleel should step down. It is not fair to leave everything to court proceedings,” Chennithala said in Thrissur on Wednesday. IUML general secretary P K Firoz had come up with a document saying Jaleel took special interest in his kin’s appointment. It was alleged that Jaleel intervened to change the eligibility norms for making the appointment.
TIMELINE
July 28, 2016: Minister K T Jaleel directs that BTech with PGDBA be added as the qualification
# Aug 3, 2016: Social Justice secretary says move needs Cabinet assent or should be seen by the Chief Minister
# Aug 4, 2016: Jaleel says no need for Cabinet assent as only additional qualification added
# Aug 9, 2016: The CM signs on file which recommends changing of eligibility criteria for GM’s post
# Aug 17, 2016: Government gives nod for amending criteria based on minister’s directive