Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel resigned on Tuesday after a Lok Ayukta report indicted him of nepotism, abuse of power, and breach of the oath of office.
Jaleel has sent his resignation to the chief minister and it has been forwarded to the governor.
"I am happy to say that those who had been baying for my blood can be relieved for now.I have submitted my resignation to the Chief Minister. Since the past two years, I have been facing a media onslaught," Jaleel, second minister in the LDF ministry to resign on nepotism charges, said in a social media post.
The development is a setback to the Vijayan government, which has hardly a couple of days left for its term to get over.
Industries E P Jayarajan had resigned in October 2016, five months after the LDF ministryassumed office following a row over the appointment of his nephew and son of former Kannur MP P K Sreemathy as Managing Director of Kerala Industries Enterprises Ltd.
Two years later later, Jayarajan was taken back in the ministry.
The resignation came hours before the Kerala High Court was to hear Jaleel's petition challenging the Lok Ayukta report on Tuesday.
Jaleel, in his petition, said the Lok Ayukta findings were not based on evidence or proper probe, and hence its ruling should be set aside. The Lok Ayukta ruling had indicted him for appointing the minister’s close relative, K T Adeeb, by tweaking the educational qualifications required for the post of general manager, State Minorities Development Finance Corporation.
A division bench of the Lok Ayukta had said the charge of abuse of power, favouritism and nepotism against the minister has been proved.
While CPI(M) secretary in-charge, A Vijayaraghavan welcomed the decision, saying it was apt and taken on moral grounds, the Congress said he should have stepped down earlier.
The CPI(M) leadership is understood to have asked the minister to resign.
Lashing out at Jaleel, leader of opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala said the minister had no other go, but to resign.
The high moral ground that the party was claiming which prompted him to resign, was not right, the senior congress leaders said.
"Why did he not resign immediately after the Lok Ayukta verdict three days ago? Why did he move the high court?" Chennithala asked reporters.
The Muslim Youth League had on November 2, 2018 alleged that Adeeb K T, a cousin of Jaleel, was appointed general manager in the Kerala State Minorities Development Finance Corporation, flouting rules.
Adeeb was the manager of a private bank when the appointment was made. "....this forum is satisfied that the allegation of abuse of power, favouritism, nepotism and violation of oath of office is substantiated against Dr K T Jaleel, Minister for Higher Education and Minority Welfare," the Lok Ayukta had said.
Jaleel had earlier alleged that the Muslim League was after him since 2006 when he won from Kuttipuram assembly constituency as an independent with LDF support.
"It was to appoint a person from a reputed financial institution. The corporation advertised for the post with MBA or BTech with PGDBA/CS/CA/ICWAI and three years' experience as the criteria. Seven people had applied for the post, out of which three appeared for the interview. They did not have the requisite qualification," Jaleel had earlier said, clarifying his stand.
Jaleel had on July 28, 2016, written to the Secretary, Public Administration (Minority Welfare), demanding an alteration in the educational qualifications required for the post of General Manager. The Secretary objected, noting that the change could only be made with the consent of the State cabinet.
The official suggested referring the matter to the Cabinet since it had fixed the educational qualification based on the recommendations of the Finance department.
Jaleel responded, saying the Cabinet’s nod was not necessary since only an addition would be made, and it could be effected with the approval of the chief minister. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan approved Jaleel’s suggestion on August 9, 2016.
It has now become clear that the norms on educational qualification were tweaked without the approval of the Cabinet or the Finance department. Jaleel had instructed to add Bachelor of Technology (B Tech) and Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics (PGDBA) as the required qualification for the post. Adeeb is a BTech and holds a PGDBA.
Earlier, officials had objected to the deputation of Adeeb, employed with a private bank, to the Minority Development Corporation. The objection, however, was overruled.
