The government has widened the probe against former IT secretary M Sivasankar after it was found that he favoured the appointment of Swapna Suresh in Space Park under the IT department.The finance inspection wing under finance department will probe the recent appointments made in various institutions under the IT department. The probe will focus on appointments in Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd and IT Park. The cabinet had recently approved the creation of 40 posts in KSITIL and K-FON, which is a project under KSITIL. It included the posts of managing directors, company secretary and chief administrative officers, finance officers and other managers.
A committee comprising Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Rajesh Kumar Singh found Sivasankar made undue favours for appointing Swapna and it became the ground for the suspension of the controversial officer. The new probe by finance department is to check if other appointments made in the department under Sivasankar were made in a transparent manner, said a source.