Government to bring fresh legislation to prevent nepotism

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Cabinet on Thursday decided to bring a legislation to prevent nepotism in appointments to quasi government institutions.

The decision is against the background of allegations against Industries Minister E. P. Jayarajan over appointing his relatives and relatives of other CPI (M) leaders to key posts in public sector units.  

The Cabinet asked the Chief Secretary S. M. Vijayanand to examine the allegations.

An official release said that the clearance form Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau was mandatory for appointments to posts of Managing Director and General Manager in public sector units. In future, a committee including experts from outside the State would be set up to make selections to such posts.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jayarajan has reportedly expressed willingness to resign as Minister. However, a decision in this regard would be taken only after the meeting of CPI (M) Secretariat on Friday.

There is considerable pressure on Mr. Jayarajan to resign. However, the government seems to be adopting tactical steps to avoid resignation.

At the same time, the Special Judge and Enquiry Commissioner, Thiruvananthapuram, posted a petition seeking registration of vigilance case over the appointments for hearing on Friday. It has been pointed out that nepotism amounted to corruption and the case would not rest just because the appointments had been cancelled.

The petition seeks that all appointments during the past four months in the Industries Department should be probed.

The Vigilance Bureau would present its views on the case on Friday.  It is already seized of petitions made by Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala and BJP leaders in this regard.