KOCHI: Kerala High Court committee’s report has revealed the role played by tainted IAS officer M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the chief minister, in the recruitment of IT staff in the court on contract basis.
As per the fact-finding report, Sivasankar took part in meetings held to discuss the recruitment and suggested members to the selection committee. The report also stated that it was based on the government’s suggestion that the mode of appointment was made contractual.Justice A Muhamed Mustaque, chairman of the Computerisation Committee of the High Court, submitted the fact-finding report to the Chief Justice on December 8.
The report stated that a meeting was convened on February 22, 2018, by then Chief Justice Antony Dominic to discuss the various issues related to the IT infrastructure of the High Court and subordinate courts. Sivasankar, then secretary, IT department, was also present. One of the items on the agenda was the creation of permanent IT cadre in the High Court and subordinate courts.
In the meeting, the additional chief secretary (Home) and secretary, IT department, stated that appointing permanent cadre was not possible in the changing scenario in the field of information technology. Fresh people with the requisite knowledge in changing technology were required for undertaking various projects, they said. Accordingly, it was decided that appointments could be made on a contract basis with a five-year term.
Based on this, the government decided to create five high-level IT posts for the High Court. This was communicated to the High Court on May 16, 2018. On July 19, 2018, the High Court Registrar-General requested the principal secretary, IT department, to furnish the job profile and qualifications for appointment of high-level IT officers. Interestingly, in a letter sent on August 13, 2018, furnishing the details of qualifications of the high-level team, the government stated, “The National Informatics Centre (NIC) is incapable to provide any support to IT infrastructure.”
The communication was sent by Balagopal K K, undersecretary to the government, electronics and information technology (Cell). The home department issued an order sanctioning five temporary high-level IT posts in the High Court and the court issued a notification.
The report also stated that a meeting of the computerisation committee was convened on March 14, 2019. The meeting was also attended by Sivasankar. On his suggestion, Hrishikesh R Nair, CEO, Government IT Parks, Kerala, and Dr Jayasankar Prasad, director, ICFOSS, were included in the selection committee, which also included Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan.
RTI reply
In reply to the RTI query of P T Thomas, MLA, the High Court had replied that Sivasankar in his capacity as secretary, electronics and IT department, had attended the meetings on February 22, 2018, May 11, 2018, and March 14, 2019, hosted by the High Court pertaining to the development of the IT system in the court.