Vigilance has started a probe against CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s former Principle Secretary Sivasankar for his involvement in the KSITIL appointments. The various appointments under the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited has come under scrutiny after the gold smuggling case began to pick up the pace. Various agencies looked into the case and found that Swapna got a job under KSITIL with fake certificates and Sivasankar had an alleged influence in the matter.
During the plea hearing, various agencies had demonstrated their arguments regarding Sivasankar’s participation in the various cases registered against him. Enforcement Directorate told High Court that the former Principal Secretary could be the main beneficiary in the case. Also mentioned in the case report is that Sivasankar had asked Swapna to meet with KSITIL MD. Moreover, the opposition had argued that the former IT person with the CM’s office, Arun Balachandran, was not qualified for the post. This is not including the controversy surrounding the appointment of a US citizen as a senior fellow in Kerala IT Start-up Mission. The government-appointed 5-member committee is still looking into the contractual appointments in the IT sector.
Meanwhile, in regards to the recent Vigilance investigation, reports claim that Chief Secretary Biswas Mehta has handed over the case reports to the CM’s office. The investigation may start soon.
