Plea seeks to bar Upa Lokayuktas from issuing CMDRF case verdict

Sasikumar’s contention was that the conduct of the Upa Lokayuktas during the hearing of the case was unusual and that raised suspicion of their impartiality.

Image used for representational purposes only.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:   The petitioner in the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund misuse case has filed an interim petition with the Lokayukta seeking to bar the Upa Lokayuktas from pronouncing a verdict in the case with political ramifications. Petitioner RS Sasikumar alleged that the two Upa Lokayuktas, who are currently dealing with the case, enjoyed personal proximity with late Chengannur MLA KK Ramachandran Nair and questioned whether the two would be able to maintain neutrality in their judgment. 

The late MLA’s family was one of the beneficiaries of the CMDRF and the move of the state cabinet was challenged by Sasikumar, who termed it an act of favouritism. On August 11, the three-member bench finished hearing the case, pertaining to the maintainability of the complaint against CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his council of ministers of the previous LDF government. It was expected to deliver its verdict soon. 
It was then that Sasikumar came up with a serious allegation, casting aspersions on the neutrality of Upa Lokayuktas Babu Mathew P Joseph and Harun Ul Rashid. 

Sasikumar alleged that Babu had released a souvenir -- ‘Dhanikaril Dhanikan’ -- to mark the fifth death anniversary of the late MLA earlier this year. Babu had also authored an article, ‘K K Ramachandran Nair Oormayile Sourabhyam’, while Harun had paid homage with another piece titled ‘Suhruthinoru Smaranaanjali’.

Sasikumar’s contention was that the conduct of the Upa Lokayuktas during the hearing of the case was unusual and that raised suspicion of their impartiality. He further accused the Upa Lokayuktas of having intimate relations and associations with the late MLA right from their student days as SFI activists and classmates.

Sasikumar had earlier petitioned Governor Arif Mohammed Khan seeking a transfer of the case to another state. In his petition, he mentioned that the two Upa Lokayuktas should have disclosed their personal proximity to the late MLA, and by not doing so they have disqualified themselves from hearing the matter.