Kochi: The state government is understood to have frozen the decision to remove Tomin J Thachankary as managing director of Cons-umerfed following protests by a section of the employees of the cooperative and much to the chagrin of the ‘I’ faction in the Congress.
The Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is understood to have directed the chief secretary to keep the government order to remove the official, issued after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, in abeyance till the next meeting.
Cooperative Minister C N Balakrishnan confirmed the reports on Mr Thachankary’s removal but refused to answer a query why the official continued in the post.
It was reported that Mr Balakrishnan had insisted on shifting the official at the cabinet meeting following the feud between Mr Thachankary and Consumerfed chairman Joy Thomas.
Mr Thachankary had initiated a probe into the allegations of corruption and taken action against a number of officials.
While Mr Thachankary said corruption had been eating into the vitals of the organization crippling its ability to intervene in the market and help check rise of prices, Mr Thomas held the stand that the reports about corruption had stopped banks from lending money to the chain to keep it afloat.
