Thiruvananthapuram: The charges of nepotism and illegal appointments, including those in the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, may prove costly to the CPM. The CPM State Scretariat meeting here the other day came to this conclusion and suggested that interference in such appointments by party leaders should not be condoned.
The Secretariat decided to take at face value the Mayor's claim that the letter purportedly written by her to the CPM district secretary was fake. The latter was asked for a list of party nominees for recruitment to several temporary jobs in the city corporation.
The party would take necessary measures on this issue based on the findings of the Crime Branch. Though it was announced earlier that the CPM would conduct an investigation into the recruitment bid, the party Secretariat did not make any suggestion for such a course of action. The meeting authorised the CPM Thiruvananthapuram district leadership to take appropriate action on the issue.
The CPM intends to convey to its cadres that its public policy is that employment in permanent posts are carried out by the Public Service Commission (PSC), while temporary posts are filled by the employment exchange. It also wants to stress on transparency in the appointments of even daily wage workers.
The decisions taken at the Secretariat meeting were likely influenced by the raging controversy over the appointments in universities and the intervention of the courts on such issues.
The CPM has decided to accept the court’s finding that party committee member K K Ragesh’s wife Priya Varghese did not have the necessary qualification to be appointed as Associate Professor in Kannur University. However, the meeting did not discuss the issue in detail.
The Secretariat meeting also decided to launch public awareness programmes to garner people’s support over the move to remove the Governor from the post of Chancellor of universities. It was decided that persons with unimpeachable reputation and high regard in society and who do not expect compensation for the job should be appointed as Vice Chancellors.
