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Kerala Chief Secretary to probe minority status issue

Special Correspondent

Leader of the Opposition rejects Chief Minister's offer

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan on Thursday said that the Chief Secretary would probe any lapse on the part of officials in communicating on time the State Government's plea to the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions for extension of time to express its views on according minority status to self-financing professional colleges.

The Chief Minister's intervention in the matter cut short a heated debate, with the Opposition alleging that Education Minister M. A. Baby had prevaricated in his replies to its doubts expressed on the previous days. Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy, at a press conference, rejected Mr. Achuthanandan's offer, stating that a probe by the Chief Secretary would not be able to dispel the doubts about the Education Minister's stand. Mr. Achuthanandan said the probe would also go into whether any individual or group of individuals had misinformed the Minister.

Mr. Chandy brought up the matter when the House was about to take up the debate on the four-month `vote on account.' Referring to the documents the Education Minister tabled on Wednesday, Mr. Chandy claimed that these had given rise to further doubts, particularly the fax message sent on June 23. The Minister himself had stated that the fax was sent to Kerala House in Delhi to be handed over to the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions and after sending the fax, the Kerala House authorities had been alerted. Mr. Chandy said his inquiries revealed that the Kerala House authorities had not received the fax message. The Resident Commissioner's reply on the fax issue did not mention this, he said. Mr. Chandy said if he had been in Mr. Baby's chair, he would have taken full responsibility for the lapse. Mr. Baby admitted to lapse on the part of officials. He said he had written to Human Resources Minister Arjun Singh stating the State Government's stand.

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