Thiruvananthapuram: A nine-member joint
legislature committee was today set up to probe the alleged
appointment of former chief minister V S Achuthanandan`s son
as director of an academic body with a hefty salary towards
the fag-end of the previous LDF government`s rule.
Congress MLA V D Satheesan would head the panel which
has four others from the UDF and as many from the Opposition
LDF. The committee was announced by Speaker G Karthikeyan in
the assembly today, before the budget session ended.
The allegation was that Achuthanandan had favoured his
son V A Arun Kumar by appointing him as director of a
Information and Communication Training Academy when the LDF
rule was about to end.
The issue was raised in assembly last week by P C
Vishunath (Congress), who quoted local media reports on the
matter based on information gathered by an RTI activist.
Vishnunath, also Youth Congress state president,
wanted a vigilance probe to be ordered into the allegation.
However, Achuthanandan dubbed the charge "totally
baseless" and suggested that the matter be referred to an
assembly panel.
Arun Kumar is already facing a vigilance prone into
various charges including foreign trips he had undertaken
while serving as the managing director of Corifed.
PTI
