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The appointment of retired judge and former Upa Lok Ayukta Babu Mathew P Joseph as the chairman of the Admission Supervisory and Fee Regulatory Committee for Professional Colleges in Kerala has triggered allegations of quid pro quo. Justice Babu was part of the three-member Lok Ayukta that had given a clean chit to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the alleged misuse of the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) in 2023.
Questioning the appointment, RS Sasikumar, chairman of the Save University Campaign Committee and petitioner in the CMDRF misuse case, sent a letter to the Chief Minister, seeking to take immediate measures to withdraw the appointment. Terming the appointment illegal, Sasikumar wrote that it was a reward for ordering in favour of the CM and the government in the CMDRF misuse case.
Speaking to TNM, Sasikumar said that the appointment was a clear violation of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act, 1999. As per the Act, “On ceasing to hold office, the Lok Ayukta or an Upa Lok Ayukta shall not be eligible for further employment to any office of profit under the Government or in any authority, corporation, company, society or university referred to in it.”
“The Kerala Lok Ayukta Act specifically bars the Lok Ayukta and Upa Lok Ayuktas from taking up posts of profit under the government. The spirit of the clause is that the Lok Ayukta should be free from the government’s influence as the majority of cases it handles is against the government. If there is an option for re-employment, the Lok Ayuktas will always favour the government. The Act was introduced with such good intentions by the then Nayanar government in 1999 and was one of the best in the country. However, when I challenged the misuse of CMDRF, this government amended the Act. But it seemed to have forgotten to challenge this clause which bars re-appointment,” said Sasikumar.
Sasikumar said that he sent a petition against the appointment to the Chief Minister as he was the decision-making authority. Sasikumar is also planning to approach the court with a ‘quo warranto’ petition, challenging the right of the former judge to hold public office.
While a decision was pending over the CMDRF misuse case, the Left Democratic Front government had amended the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act in 2022, by diluting the powers of the anti-corruption watchdog. It amended Section 14 of the Act, which asks public servants to vacate office if directed by the Lok Ayukta. As per the amendment, the “competent authority” can either reject or accept the report by the ombudsman. That means it is not binding for the Chief Minister or other Ministers to step down based on an adverse judgement from the Lok Ayukta.
The amendment was strongly objected to by the opposition parties. The then Governor Arif Mohammed Khan refused to sign the bill and referred it to the President. After the state government approached the Supreme Court, President Droupati Murmu signed the bill in February 2024.
Sasikumar filed the case against the CM and his 18 Cabinet ministers in 2018, alleging misuse of CMRDF based on Cabinet decisions to give financial aid to the family of the late Nationalist Congress Party leader Uzhavoor Vijayan as well as the family of a police officer who died when the pilot vehicle of the then Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan met with an accident.
The bench, comprising Lok Ayukta justice Cyriac Joseph and Upa Lok Ayuktas justice Haroon Al Rashid and justice Babu, had given a clean chit to the CM and his Cabinet members in November 2023.