The Kerala HC dismissed a plea seeking CBI probe into a letter allegedly written by Rajendran to employ party cadres in the civic body.
Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran and Kerala Minister V Sivankutty. (SAryaRajendran/Twitter)
The plea seeking a CBI probe into a controversial letter allegedly written by the Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran was dismissed by the Kerala High Court on Friday, 16 December.
The letter, supposedly written in early November, was leaked to the media. It bore the name of the mayor and was addressed to a CPI(M) functionary seeking names of party cadres to fill up vacant posts in the civic body.
The petitioner, GS Sreekumar — a former councillor of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation — had also urged the court to direct the state’s Vigilance Directorate to register the complaint he had made in connection with the letter.
The plea was dismissed by Justice K Babu who was of the opinion that there was no substance in it.
The leaked letter was purportedly sent by Mayor Arya Rajendran to CPI(M) District Secretary Anavoor Nagappan seeking a list of party workers to fill up 295 temporary posts in urban Primary Health Centres (PHCs) under the corporation.
The letter said the vacancies included 74 posts of doctors, 66 staff nurses, and 64 pharmacists.
After the letter was leaked, Nagappan denied receiving any such letter, and the mayor denied writing it.
The mayor said that the letter, which was written on the official letterhead, had been fabricated. She also said that she was outside the district on the date mentioned in the letter.
Immediately after the letter was made public by a leading Malayalam newspaper, the CPI(M), the main constituent of the ruling LDF in Kerala, went into damage control mode.
CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan hit out against the leak, saying that there was no precedent of elected representatives writing letters to the party leadership asking for a list of party cadres to fill vacancies.
MV Govindan, CPI(M) Kerala state committee secretary. (KB Jayachandran)
On 6 November, Arya Rajendran met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan late in the evening reportedly to request his intervention to find the source of the letter and those “behind it”.
The Opposition, including the Congress and the BJP, held statewide protests demanding the truth behind the letter and sought the resignation of Rajendran, the youngest mayor in the country.
The youth wing of the Congress marched to the Kerala Assembly, resulting in clashes with the police.
The BJP state leadership wrote a letter to the Governor — who has been at loggerheads with the Left government — demanding the mayor’s resignation.
The Crime Branch of the Kerala Police was tasked with probing the source and the authenticity of the letter allegedly written by Arya Rajendran.
The Crime Branch chief submitted a preliminary report of the investigation on 21 November which said it could not verify if the letter was fabricated. Only a detailed investigation could ascertain the facts behind the letter, it said.
The Crime Branch chief also mentioned that they were unable to get hold of the original of the controversial letter and that the mayor claimed the letter was fake.
The mayor’s claim was that the letter was “edited” and she has no part in writing or circulating the same.
Sreekumar, who filed the plea in the Kerala High Court seeking a CBI investigation, contended that Rajendran and LDF Parliamentary Party secretary DR Anil requested the CPI(M) district secretary to provide a list of party members for appointment to various posts in the health division of the corporation.
“The above act of nepotism of the mayor of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation and one of the councillors is very much against the oath taken by both of them at the time of swearing-in as councillors in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
“This issue itself is having an epic proportion of corruption which has been institutionalised after the present dispensation has come into existence,” the petition, filed through advocate Rajkumar, had alleged.
He also alleged that the mayor was “subverting the employment chances of thousands” who are qualified for the jobs.
He had also alleged Rajendran and Anil were creating a cadre for their party inside the Corporation “by systematically employing persons who are affiliated with the CPI(M) only”.
The petition had contended that an investigation by a state agency will not suffice in the matter as “there are political bigwigs who are involved in this operation and have the power to have the issue brushed under the carpet”.
The allegations against the ruling LDF in Kerala of appointing party cadres or their relatives is not new.
A letter requesting a list of candidates to be appointed in nine vacancies at the SIT hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, written by corporation parliamentary party secretary DR Anil to Nagappan is also being debated.
CPI(M) EP Jayarajan had to resign in 2016 after charges of nepotism (EP Jayarajan/Twitter)
Earlier, the appointment of the chief minister’s private secretary and CPM leader KK Ragesh’s wife Priya Varghese in Kannur University also came under the scanner. The high court considered a plea regarding the appointment and ruled that she was not eligible to be an associate professor.
The university did not appeal against the decision and asked Varghese to submit documents proving her eligibility.
In 2016, CPI(M) strongman EP Jayarajan had to resign from the Cabinet following allegations of appointing a family member as the head of a public sector unit.
Regarding the controversial letter, Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran said that she suspects it to be politically motivated and also brushed aside demands for her resignation by the Opposition Congress and BJP, terming the same as a “joke”.
(With inputs from PTI)
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