The Kerala High Court recently admitted a plea challenging the order of Lok Ayukta and Upa Lok Ayuktas rejecting a complaint lodged against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and 18 former cabinet ministers, alleging misuse of funds in the Chief Minister Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF).
A Division Bench of Chief Justice A J Desai and Justice V G Arun was hearing a plea filed by RS Sasikumar. The plea sought to quash the orders issued by the Lok Ayukta and Upa Lok Ayukta as being illegal and arbitrary.
Based on the submissions, the Kerala High Court issued a notice to CM Pinarayi Vijayan asking him to spell out his stand on the plea. The Court issued notices to former Ministers of the State namely, A.K Balan, E Chandrasekharan, Dr K T Jaleel, Kadakampally Surendran, M M Mani, Mathew T Thomas, J Mercykutty Amma, A C Moideen, K Raju, Ramachandran Kadannappally, T P Ramakrishnan, C Raveendranath, K K Shailaja Teacher, G Sudhakaran, P Thilothaman, Dr T M Thomas Issac and the Kerala Lok Ayukta.
Notably, the petitioner in the case lodged a complaint back in 2018 alleging misuse of financial assets of the State based on political considerations and nepotism. On November 13 2022, a three-member bench of Lok Ayukta Justice Cyriac Joseph and Upa-Lok Ayuktas Justices Babu Mathew P Joseph and Harun-Ul-Rashid had dismissed the plea alleging misuse of CMDRF fund.
The complaint by R S Sasikumar alleged that the Chief Minister and his council of ministers had abused their position as public servants and were actuated by personal interest and corrupt motives and also were guilty of corruption, favouritism and nepotism.
Dismissing the plea, the Lok Ayukta had said that though the decisions under challenge were arbitrary in nature, there was no sufficient material to conclude that they were taken only on account of political considerations. It further mentioned that the charges levelled by the complainant were not substantiated.