Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Government pleader, IT adviser resign

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Adviser to Chief Minister on information technology Joseph C. Mathew and government pleader Anil Kumar resigned on Wednesday.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan indicated that his adviser on inland water transport B.R. Menon is also on the way out on the basis of decisions taken by the CPI(M) State Committee here on Tuesday.

They were officials known close to Mr. Achuthanandan, like K. Suresh Kumar who had been suspended from service earlier. Mr. Anil Kumar had been handling several cases related to evictions and demolitions of unauthorised buildings at Munnar. Mr. Mathew was associated with the negotiations for the SmartCity Project and exposures related to the HMT land deal. Replying to questions at his weekly Cabinet briefing about his confidants losing their posts one after another, the Chief Minister said that they were being removed because of certain misdeeds pointed out by the party such as making of “unhealthy statements.”

Mr. Achuthanadan said that Mr. Menon, who was an accused in a sex scandal case, had been trapped by his detractors. Following adverse media reports, Mr. Menon had been removed from the post. However, he took the hasty step of reinstating Mr. Menon before the case was disposed of by court.

He said Mr. Menon was an efficient officer who could speed up the work on inland waterways.

His sincere service had led to friction with some of the officials who had been engaged in corruption. So, they had trapped him. “I should have waited till Mr. Menon established his innocence before the courts.”

The Chief Minister denied reports that he had sought replacement of his private secretary S. Rajendran. Mr. Achuthanandan had earlier refuted reports that Mr. Rajendran had criticised him at the State committee meeting.

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