Presence of Lokayukta at CM’s Iftar feast sparks row

Thiruvananthapuram: Questions are being raised on the presence of Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta in the Iftar party hosted by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on April 4.
While RSP leader N K Premachandran MP questioned the judicial propriety of the judges, R S Sasikumar, who had filed the complaint against the state government to the Lokayukta alleging nepotism in the distribution of the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) said he no longer expected justice from the quasi-judicial institution.
Premachandran said the participation of the Lokayukta and the Upa Lokayukta in the Iftar feast hosted by CM Vijayan, the key accused in a case pending before them, has put a question mark over their judicial integrity. “Their decision to accept the invite is highly inappropriate. It was equally inappropriate for the CM as ell to invite them to the feast at this juncture,” Premachandran said.
Sasikumar said the presence of Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta in the feast undermined the public trust in Lokayukta.
Though the petitioner has submitted a review petition against the Lokayukta’s decision to review the maintainability of the petition once again, the registry had refused to entertain it without prior approval from Lokayukta.
The Lokayukta full bench had looked into the maintainability of the petition in January 2019 and came to a conclusion that the case was maintainable.
However, after completing the hearing of the case, the Lokayukta and Upa Lokayukta have recently decided to look into the maintainability issue of the petition by leaving it to the full bench.