THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when recommendations made by different commissions appointed by successive governments continue to remain in cold storage, it has come to light that the state exchequer spent Rs 5.90 crore to run Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission led by former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan.
Formed in August 2016, the commission has so far submitted three reports to the state government, according to an RTI reply. “What purpose is served in maintaining such a commission at the cost of taxpayers, with the state incurring a huge financial burden? It is evident that none of the recommendations is being implemented. Interestingly, the recommendations by an earlier Law Reforms Commission headed by Justice V R Krishna Iyer, who was appointed when V S Achuthanandan was Chief Minister, have not been implemented. The government had spent around Rs 2.5 crore for that commission alone,” pointed out M K Haridas of The Proper Channel, who collected the said information.
As per RTI information, the amount spent towards paying commission chairman VS Achuthanandan’s salary till June 25, was Rs 23.43 lakh while travel allowance paid during the period was Rs 5.51 lakh.
Similarly, two members - CP Nair and Neela Gangadharan - and member secretary Sheela Thomas were paid Rs 25.56 lakh, Rs 7.55 lakh and Rs 38.37 lakh as salary till June 25. The amount paid as travel allowance to Neela was Rs 3.56 lakh, while Nair and Sheela received Rs 9,493 and Rs 67,089 respectively. The RTI reply further states that as of May 2019, the amount spent on paying salaries to commission employees comes to Rs 8.40 lakh per month.
