Thiruvananthapuram, July 26: 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