THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Legislative Assembly Secretary SV Unnikrishnan Nair has shot off a letter to the Customs superintendent that if a staffer of the Assembly has to be served with a legal notice, Speaker’s permission has to be sought. His letter comes in the wake of the Customs summoning K Ayyappan, additional private secretary to Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, for questioning in connection with the smuggling of US dollars to a foreign country. Customs officials had initially approached Ayyappan over the phone asking him to appear before them for questioning on Monday.
Since he informed them via email that he requires their order, it was sent to his email and also on his WhatsApp number. But citing inconvenience due to the budget session of the Assembly scheduled, Ayyappan informed via email that he will not be able to appear for questioning. But on Wednesday, Nair, who is also having the power of a district Judge, noticed that as per Rule 165 of Kerala Legislative Assembly Service of legal process, “a legal process, civil or criminal, shall not be served within the precincts of the Assembly without obtaining the permission of the Speaker.”
He told TNIE that Rule 165 is applicable to any of the staffers of the Legislative Assembly, including the legislators. “If a summons or warrant is issued to a staffer of the Legislative Assembly, then whoever is the issuing authority, they will have to seek the permission of the Speaker. It is getting just a formal permission from the Speaker. When I noticed this Rule 165 on Wednesday, I sent a letter to the Customs superintendent,” said Nair.
Customs to issue third notice to addl pvt secy Ayyappan
Kochi: Customs will issue a third notice to K Ayyappan, additional private secretary to Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, after he failed to appear for interrogation on Wednesday. “We will issue a third notice to Ayyappan soon,” a Customs officer told TNIE. Earlier on Wednesday, Ayyappan had responded to the Customs notice citing his inconvenience to appear for interrogation. Customs had issued the first notice to Ayyappan on Monday directing him to appear for questioning on Tuesday in Kochi. However, he did not appear before the agency claiming that he did not receive the notice.