KPCC president K Sudhakaran has sought the resignation of the Lokayukta as the anti-corruption body has been charged with “utterly failing in the administration of justice.”
In a statement here on Sunday, Sudhakaran demanded that the Lokayukta, which is Kerala’s strong weapon to fight corruption, should resign immediately in view of the general public’s assessment that the Lokayukta has completely failed in the administration of justice.
Sudhakaran said the order of the Lokayukta on Friday, which referred the case pertaining to the alleged misuse of the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) to a three-member full bench is ludicrous.
“A strange verdict like this, filled with absurdities to protect the chief minister who led the corruption, is a dark chapter in the judicial history of Kerala,” Congress Kerala chief said
Stating that it is a shame that the eminent members of the Lokayukta who have worked in the Supreme Court and the High Court for a long time have decided the case, Sudhakaran said the people of kerala are now discussing the reasons behind delivering such an absurd verdict. People are discussing whether they have knelt before Chief Minister Vijayan’s diktat or whether a deal has been done behind it.
Sudhakaran said that he has demanded the resignation of the Lokayukta as the people’s faith in the justice system is falling day by day.
He said that it is very much clear who is to be protected by the decision of the two-member bench to refer the issue again to a full bench, which has already been decided by the Lokayukta.
He said the Kerala society was kept in the dark by not clarifying who was in favor or against in the two-member bench. People are wondering why these facts are being hidden.
It is pointed out that If the Lokayukta and the Upalokayukta had a difference of opinion, both of them should have written different verdicts explaining the reasons and the legal rationale.
However, the order of the Lokayukta on Friday states that there is a difference of opinion on two matters and that it is left to the full bench.
Legal experts say there are loopholes in the order of the Lokayuta in the case related to misappropriation of Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).
In the order of the Lokayukta, it has been stated that the decision to constitute a three-member bench was taken, as the Lokayukta and the Upa Lokayukta had a difference of opinion.
The Division Bench of Lokayukta comprising Lokayukta Cyriac Joseph and Upa Lokayukta Harun-ul-Rashid differed on whether the Cabinet’s decision to allocate money from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMDRF) can be reviewed under the Lokayukta Act and whether the complaint is maintainable.
However, in 2019, the full bench presided over by the then Lokayukta Justice Pius Kuriakos ruled that the complaint is maintainable and it can be examined on merit.
A full bench comprising Lokayukta Justice Pius C Kuriakose, and Upa-lokayuktas Justices KP Balachandran and A K Basheer in January 2019 decided to admit the complaint filed by R S Sasikumar.
The bench decided that the complaint was maintainable before the Lokayukta and ordered notice to the respondents. The bench was constituted after there was a difference of opinion among the Lokayukta and one of the Upa-lokayuktas regarding the jurisdiction of the agency to probe disbursement of assistance from CMDRF.