KOCHI: During his 26-year-long career as an IAS officer and also after becoming an MLA, Alphons Kannanthanam had all along taken an uncompromising stand in the fight against corruption. He didn’t flinch even in the face of graft cases involving political stalwarts.
In the controversial 1992 palmolein case Kannanthanam was a petitioner before the Kerala High Court seeking further probe against Oommen Chandy since he was the Finance Minister when the import deal took place. Interestingly, Kannanthanam as a practising lawyer had himself argued the case before the court .
“Apart from this, there was another interesting side to the case. Kannanthanam submitted a copy of ‘Making a Difference’, a tome authored by him, before the court to substantiate the fact he had indeed raised his voice against the deal earlier when the judge wondered why the petitioner took so long to file the complaint imputing corruption against Chandy though the investigation report against the other accused in the case had been filed a long time ago.
Kannanthanam was ex-officio director on the Civil Supplies Corporation board at the time,” said lawyer R V Sreejith who filed the petition for Kannanthanam. However, the court rejected the petition and gave a clean chit to Chandy. He argued Chandy could easily influence the Vigilance probe and requested the court to appoint a special investigation team made up of retired police officials from other states with the court overseeing the probe. Kannanthanam along with the then Leader of Opposition V S Achuthanandan had approached the High Court in 2013 to set aside the verdict of the Thrissur Vigilance Court in May 2012 which accepted a Vigilance report exonerating Chandy .
“After I informed them I will not ratify the government’s actions, my name was struck off the list of persons shortlisted for the vice-chancellor’s post . I was pretty sad since I would have loved the job. I could have transformed the university into a place which would create people who could transform the country,” Kannanthanam says in the tome, which also has a Malayalam translation-’India-Mattathinte Muzhakkam’, brought out by Penguin Books. In December 1991 Kannanthanam was sent on Central deputation as Delhi Development Authority(DDA) Commissioner bang in the middle of the palmolein deal. Kannanthanam’s legal career also witnessed a run-in with the Kerala Bar Council which suspended him for professional misconduct.
He had secured a trademark as proprietor of a ‘career coaching centre’ while practising as a lawyer which the Bar Council’s disciplinary committee found objectionable. However, the High Court stayed the Bar Council’s decision. He started a nongovernmental organisation ‘Janashakti’ to f i g h t cor ruption at a l l levels.
Fact File
Born: August 8, 1953 UPSC topper in 1979 Pioneered the country’s literacy movement by making Kottayam the first 100 per cent literate town in India in 1989 as its District Collector. Earned the nickname ‘Demolition Man’ during the 1990s when he, as Delhi Development Authority’s commissioner, declared war on unauthorised constructions, knocking down nearly 15,000 illegal buildings and reclaiming land worth Rs 10,000 crore. Was instrumental in sanctioning selffinancing professional colleges in Kerala in 2001 when he was the Secretary, Higher Education. The initiative led to an investment of Rs 4,000 crore in the sector.
Quit Civil Service in 2006 and joined politics. Was elected to the Kerala Assembly the same year as a CPMbacked Independent candidate from Kanjirappally.
Fell out with the Left and joined the BJP in March, 2011, in the presence of the then party president Nitin Gadkari, having resigned from his assembly seat a couple of hours prior to it.
Appointed member of a committee constituted by Government of India on June 26, 2017, to prepare the final draft of the National Education Policy