THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Appointments of relatives to senior positions in public sector undertakings under his ministry cost CPM leader E.P. Jayarajan his job as industries minister but the saga of ineligible and tainted ones occupying top PSU slots continues unabated. And several such officials have found a saviour in agriculture minister V. S. Sunil Kumar. It is alleged that Mr Sunil Kumar has taken no action against two officials appointed by the previous UDF regime despite the vigilance department sought their removal even as he ensured three of his trusted people were placed in top slots in PSUs under his command.
While State Warehousing Corporation managing director K. Subair Khan is facing cases for the irregularities in various appointments he made in the company, A. J. Sharan Kumar, managing director of Kerala Agro Machinery Corporation Ltd, apparently has little experience to head a PSU. Both the appointments were made by K.P. Mohanan, former agriculture minister. The Lok Ayukta had in 2013 ordered a vigilance inquiry into the appointment of Mr Khan as SWC managing director as he was under-qualified for the post. The petitioner, N. Viswambharan of Nemom, had alleged Mr Mohanan appointed him flouting norms and regulations.
The vigilance has already filed an FIR against him for the appointment of more than 40 employees in the officer grade --mainly engineers and assistant engineers – in the company. A top government source said Mr Sharan Kumar, another of Mr Mohanan’s appointees, completed his B.Tech from University of Kerala in 2008 and a one-year MBA from University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2011. “He lacks supervisory as well as industrial experience to head the PSU,” said the official.
Mr Sunil Kumar who did little to ensure that the tainted ones leave the jobs flouted the LDF’s own declared policy of not appointing retired hands and gave plum postings to three of his close associates. One of the first appointments he made as agriculture minister was of Ranjan S. Karippai as managing director of Horticorp, director of State Horticulture Mission and Kerala Pineapple Mission.
Agriculture department sources said Mr Karippai, former head of the Thrissur Krishi Vigyan Kendra, has got no experience in horticulture when he is qualified in agricultural extension. Former leader of the CPI’s employee wing Joint Council M. A. Francis was another lucky retired bureaucrat who got the job of the managing director of Kerafed, a PSU. A government source said retired hands have little accountability and hence it is dangerous to keep them in executive positions.
Mr Sunil Kumar suspended P. G. Raveendranath as managing director of Kerala Land Development Corporation Ltd citing irregularities in construction of buildings. However, vigilance sources said Mr Raveendranath, formerly a professor in Physics in D B College, Sasthamcotta, lost his job as he lacked technical qualifications. But Mr Sunil Kumar has now appointed P. Suresh Babu, professor in economics at NSS College, Nenmara, as managing director of Agro Industries Corporation Ltd which manufactures and distributes agro machinery. Mr Sunil Kumar’s choice of people has raised eyebrows in the political circles as well since the three other ministers from the CPI have chosen to pick bureaucrats for posts in PSUs under their command.
