Relief for Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan as Lok Ayukta defers CMDRF verdict

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A division bench of Lok Ayukta on Friday referred the case alleging misuse of the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF), against the chief minister and other ministers, to the full bench of the court, citing difference of opinion between the judges.
“As there is difference of opinion between us on the basic issue whether the action of respondents 2 to 18 in taking the impugned decisions as members of the cabinet can be subjected to investigation under the provisions of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act, 1999 and on the merits of allegations raised by the complainant, we are constrained to place this complaint for investigation by the Lok Ayukta and both the Upa-Lok Ayuktas together as required under Section 7(1) of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act, 1999,” the bench of Lok Ayukta Cyriac Joseph and Upa-Lok Ayukta Harun-Ul-Rashid said in its order.

CMDRF case likely to drag on in Lok Ayukta further
The case will now be heard by a bench of Lok Ayukta Cyriac Joseph and Upa-Lok Ayuktas Harun-Ul-Rashid and Babu Mathew P Joseph. Since a new bench will consider the merit of the petition, the case is likely to drag on further, which will be of much relief to the government.
Terming the verdict "bizarre", opposition leader V D Satheesan said it would undermine the credibility of Lok Ayukta. He said the decision was not legally valid as the maintainability of the case had already been examined by the full bench. He demanded that the higher courts should intervene in the matter. BJP state president K Surendran, meanwhile, soughtthe resignation of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The petitioner, Kerala University former syndicate member R S Sasikumar, said the verdict was surprising as the verdict of the full bench of Lok Ayukta pronounced on January 14, 2019 regarding the maintainability of the case was in force.
“How can the court come up with a verdict against it? Also, the original verdict of 2019 has not even been challenged in the appeal courts,” he said.
Sasikumar had -in hisoriginal petition -alleged maladministration and nepotism in granting amounts from the CMDRF and cited three specific instances.
He moved another petition before the Lok Ayukta now, stating that the verdict on the original petition was pending for over a year after the completion of arguments. He had also approached the high court seeking a directive to the Lok Ayukta to pronounce the verdict, but the court asked him to approach the Lok Ayukta itself.