Kerala HC moved against Lok Ayukta’s order dismissing complaint against CM

Petition filed challenging Kerala Lok Ayukta's order dismissing complaint alleging nepotism & corruption in CMDRF grants. Petitioner seeks recusal of Upa Lok Ayuktas.

A writ petition was filed on Friday before the Kerala High Court challenging the the Kerala Lok Ayukta’s order dismissing a complaint alleging nepotism and corruption in the decisions of the previous Left Democratic Front government to grant financial aid from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) to families of deceased political leaders and others.

The petition was filed by R.S. Sasikumar, social activist from Thiruvananthapuram. He had challenged before the Lok Ayukta the decisions of the council of Ministers taken on July 27, 2017 to provide financial assistance to families of deceased political leader Uzhavoor Vijayan and a deceased police officer and to write off a loan owed by deceased political leader K.K. Ramachandran Nair and give his son a government job.

According to him, the decisions taken by the Cabinet amounted to corruption, favouritism, and nepotism.

The dismissal order was passed by the Lok Ayukta headed by Cyriac Joseph and comprising Upa Lok Ayuktas Harun-Ul-Rashid and Babu Mathew P. Joseph.

In his petition, Mr. Sasikumar also challenged the Lok Ayukta’s order dismissing his plea seeking recusal of the Upa Lok Ayuktas from hearing the case, as they had disclosed their close proximity to K.K. Ramachandran Nair.