T’puram: Home minister Ramesh Chennithala has rejected leader of opposition Pinarayi Vijayan’s criticism of the high-level meeting involving the lok ayukta, terming his allegations ‘misleading‘ and ‘contrary to facts‘.Chennithala said the meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on Sept 23 was held following an official request from the lok ayukta, which had sought urgent govt intervention to remove administrative hurdles affecting its functioning.Responding to Vijayan’s allegation that the meeting was an attempt to undermine the lok ayukta’s independence, Chennithala cited similar meetings held during previous govts.He pointed out that a meeting was held on Aug 1, 2006, under then CM V S Achuthanandan, attended by lok ayukta Justice K Sreedharan, upa lok ayuktas Justice N Krishnan Nair and Justice K A Mohammed Shafi, then home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and senior officials.He also cited a meeting held on July 27, 2014, during the tenure of then CM Oommen Chandy.The Sept 23 meeting was attended by lok ayukta Justice Anil Kumar, upa lok ayuktas Justice Ashok Menon and Justice Shircy, additional chief secretary (home) Minhaj Alam, director general of prosecution T Asif Ali, law secretary P N Vinod, finance additional secretary M Geetha, vigilance additional secretary Jose Kallinkal and lok ayukta registrar E Baiju, among others.Chennithala also said administrative meetings between the executive and constitutional or statutory institutions were routine, citing Vijayan’s meetings with high court chief justices during his tenure as CM.According to the home minister, the lok ayukta had raised nine issues at the meeting, including the transfer of complaints against govt officials to the lok ayukta under Section 7(3) of Kerala Lokayukta Act, 1999; expediting the framing of contempt rules; providing facilities for the special attorney’s office; purchasing vehicles for police personnel in the investigation wing; and granting uniform allowance to them.Other issues included notifying special service rules for lok ayukta employees, expediting notification of Kerala Lokayukta (Filing of Statements of Property) Amendment Rules, 2024, relaxing the ceiling on travel allowance, and digitising the lok ayukta’s functioning.Chennithala alleged that administrative matters concerning the lok ayukta had remained pending for nearly a decade during the previous govt and accused LDF govt of failing to address the institution’s requests. He also referred to the previous amendment curtailing the lok ayukta’s powers and linked it to cases involving alleged abuse of power by former minister K T Jaleel.
