Probe ordered into appointment of Achuthanandan's son

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Kerala Speaker G. Karthikeyan on Wednesday ordered an assembly committee to probe whether Leader of Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan's son was appointed director of an IT educational institute during the Marxist leader's tenure as the chief minister.

Achuthanandan on Wednesday morning denied that his son V.A. Arunkumar was appointed the director of the ICT Academy during his tenure as the state chief minister, as alleged by Congress legislator P.C. Vishnunath.

"If Vishnunath still stands by his statement, then this can be inquired into by an assembly committee or he should withdraw his allegation and apologise," Achuthanandan said on the floor of the assembly.

With Vishnunath sticking to his contention, the speaker ruled that an assembly committee will probe the issue.

The issue was first raised by R.S. Sasikumar, a former joint registrar of the Kerala University, based on the information he acquired through a Right to Information (RTI) query.

"I have all the documents to prove that Arunkumar was appointed on the sly and it is most surprising that Achuthanandan made this statement in the assembly. Lot of violations have been made to appoint Arunkumar," Sasikumar told IANS.

"There is a mention that the salary of the director of ICT Academy should be equivalent to the salary of the CEO of Technopark. I have all the documents to prove what I have said," said Sasikumar.

The IT department during the Left government was handled by Achuthanandan and according to the documents in possession of Sasikumar, Arunkumar was appointed on Feb 7, 2011.