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Lok Ayukta Declares Kerala Higher Education Minister KT Jaleel Guilty Of Nepotism, Unfit To Continue As Minister
LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK
9 April 2021 1:54 PM GMT
The Kerala Lok Ayukta has found K T Jaleel, Minister for Higher Education and Minority Welfare, guilty of nepotism, abuse of power and favoritism and held that he violated his oath of office by giving government appointment to his second cousin by altering norms.Significantly, the Lok Ayukta made declaration under Section 12(3) of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act that Jaleel should not continue as...
The Kerala Lok Ayukta has found K T Jaleel, Minister for Higher Education and Minority Welfare, guilty of nepotism, abuse of power and favoritism and held that he violated his oath of office by giving government appointment to his second cousin by altering norms.
Significantly, the Lok Ayukta made declaration under Section 12(3) of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act that Jaleel should not continue as a Member of the Council of Ministers. Such a declaration has to be accepted by the Chief Minister under Section 14 of the Act. On acceptance by the Chief Minister, the Minister has to resign from the office as per Section 14(2)(i) of the Act.
"The action of the 2nd respondent(Jaleel) was actuated in discharge of his function as a Minster by personal interest to favour his own second cousin. It amounted to favouritism and nepotism and lack of integrity in his capacity as a Minister.
The conduct of the 2nd respondent also violated the oath of office he had taken as a Minister to discharge his duties as a Minister "without fear or favour, affection or ill-will"", the order passed by a bench of Justices Cyriac Joseph(former Supreme Court judge) and Harun-Ul-Rashid(former High Court judge) held.
The matter related to the appointment of Jaleel's cousin KT Adeeb as General Manager in the Kerala State Minorities Development Finance Corporation Limited.
The Lok Ayukta found that Jaleel took a decision as a Minister to change the qualifications for the post to add "B.Tech with PGDBA" to make his relative eligible. This decision was without any proposal or suggestion from the Corporation. But for this change of qualification, Adeeb would not have been eligible to apply for the post.
The Lok Ayukta held that it amounted to an abuse of the Minister's position. It ordered that the report be submitted before the Chief Minister for taking necessary action as per Section 14 of the Kerala Lok Ayukta Act.
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