(This is the fourth part of the Malayala Manorama series 'Government Jobs: Playbook of Nexus and Nepotism'. Read Part 1 here: Backdoor appointments cost the public money and the government its face. Part 2: In Kerala’s IT department, job offers come tailor-made for candidates. Part 3: New-age commissars rule Chief Minister’s Office.)
A rank list prepared by the Kerala Public Service Commission to recruit candidates to the post of civil police officers lapsed last month after a four-month freeze.
There were 7,960 candidates on the list. The rank list was frozen after a few of the candidates, leaders of the Students Federation of India were caught cheating at the exam.
Only 2,252 candidates were appointed from the list. The others lost their chance to get a job with the police, thanks to the government’s decision to stick to rules.
The rank list’s validity was not extended despite the extraordinary situation that affected appointments.
At the same time, government norms and rules are brushed aside when it comes to appoinments.
The Industries Department tops the list of government departments when it comes to nepotism. Barring a few IAS officers, key posts are occupied by the relatives of top CPM leaders.
They hold posts like managing directors, general managers and chief executive officers.
The public sector undertakings offer unlimited potential for leaders to dole out the fishes and loaves of office since the appointment to these undertakings are not done through the Kerala Public Service Commission.
Leaders even manage to waive the mandatory clearance by the Vigilance department when it comes to appointing their dear and near ones.
Posts such as managing director and the chief executive officer comes with a paycheck of Rs lakh including various benefits.
The top rungs of the public sector enterprises are reserved for the relatives of the top leaders.
Party workers can expect to find a job as ordinary workers.
They will be appointed to temporary posts as per the recommendation of local party units. Those posts could be made permanent later, more often during the final days of a government.
Conjuring up posts
Sukesh R Pillai, a close relative of the labour minister’s additional private secretary, has been appointed to a permanent post in the Steel Industrials Kerala Limited (SILK), which functions under the Industries Department. He was initially appointed to a temporary post more than two years ago.
He was recently appointed to a permanent post after a secretive interview. Since there was no post to accommodate him, a new one was created – liaison office cluster head. He is now the deputy manager (electronics).
Pillai was appointed on a contract basis as an assistant manager. Two and a half years later, he holds a permanent post as a deputy manager. He is an electronics engineer even though the SILK is only in need of mechanical, electrical and civil engineering experts. The SILK is already packed to twice its requirement.
Most of the construction jobs from the government go to a particular company without going through any bidding process. It is an open secret in the corridors of power that the company reciprocates the favour by offering jobs to anyone the ministers and top leaders recommend.
The company employed the son and daughter-in-law of a minister. Another minister’s son used to work in the company until recently. The company still employs a relative of a ruling party MLA and the daughter of a senior CPM leader.
Let us be clear here. There is nothing wrong in ministers’ children seeking employment in the private sector. However, they could be alleged to be part of a nexus when the government unduly favours the company involved.
Consultancy in assembly
The Sabha TV, scheduled to go live soon in the model of Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV, is run on consultancies.
The Legislative Assembly will dole out Rs 50 lakh for two years to stream the proceedings of the house on social media and to make the content available on OTT platforms. The same agency receives Rs 2 lakh per month for social media management.
The private firm was awarded the contract even as the government had its own specialised firm in the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology.
The firm was selected by an advisory panel that consisted of former Information Technology secretary M Sivasankar and others including the managing director of the Kerala IT Infrastructure Limited and the director of the IT Mission.
A Delhi-based senior journalist has been roped in as a media consultant of the Sabha TV. He will be given the flight ticket from Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram, stay at a five-star hotel and Rs 1,000 per day as sitting fees.
Three visual media journalists have been appointed as producers for the Sabha TV.
They get a monthly salary of Rs 60,000 each. A woman has been appointed as a production assistant with a salary of Rs 45,000 and a documentation research assistant with a salary of Rs 35,000.
Nobody has any idea about their backgrounds or experiences. They have all been appointed through consultancy firms.
The programmes are produced with the help of hired cameramen and editors. Those expenses are beyond what had already been listed.
A special cell has been formed in the legislative secretariat for the running of the Sabha TV. It will be headed by a deputy secretary.
Fishes and loaves
Here is a list of people with undeniable connections to the top echelons of power who managed to land plum posts in government-run entities.
S R Vinaya Kumar, the managing director of the United Electrical Industries, is the brother-in-law of CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
Sooraj Raveendran, the managing director of the Kinfra Film and Video Park, is the grandson of former chief minister E K Nayanar.
Jeevan Anand, the managing director of the Kindra Apparel Park, is the son of CPM state secretariat member Anathalavattom Anandan.
T Unnikrishnan, the general manager of the Kindra, is the son of Koliyakode Krishnan Nair, a member of the CPM’s central committee.
M D Jose Mon, the general manager of the Cochin International Container Freight Station, is a relative of M M Lawrence, a veteran leader of the CPM.
Sarat V Raj, the Chief Executive Officer of the Institute for Entrepreneur Development, is the son of K Varadarajan, a state committee member of the CPM.
Vijayakumaran Pillai, the managing director of the Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Limited, is a former state leader of the Kerala Gazetted Officers, which owes its allegiance to the CPM.
He was offered the post as soon as he retired from government service. However, the appointment letter is yet to be issued thanks to the raising of red flags.
Prasad Mathew, the managing director of the Traco Cable Company, is the leader of a Left-leaning union in the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB).
Scapegoats
Eligible candidates who lose out to their influential peers are the obvious casualty of this power game. Yet there are more blatant victimisations too.
Saheer Kalady, a native of Malappuram, was squeezed out of his government job after he dared to challenge an alleged incident of nepotism.
He rubbed minister K T Jaleel the wrong way when the minister tried to appoint his relative to a top post.
He was working as finance manager at the Malabar Co-operative Textiles Limited (Malcotex) at Kuttippuram. The firm works under the Industries Department. He was one of the candidates who had applied to the post of the general manager in the Minorities Development Finance Corporation.
The post, however, went to K T Adeeb, a relative of minister Jaleel. Saheer went to the media with a claim that he was more qualified than Adeeb. A row followed and Adeeb quit the post.
For Saheer, the worst was yet to begin. Under pressure from the top, his office became a hostile space for him. He raised the issue with the governor and the chief minister but there was no relief forthcoming.
He was targeted with show-cause notices and denial of benefits. Finally, with 20 years of service remaining, he quit the job. He was even denied his retirement benefit but he went to the Kerala High Court to win them back at least partly. He is working with a private firm in Malappuram now.
(Reporting by Renji Kuriakose, Mahesh Guptan, V R Prathap, S V Rajesh, M R Harikumar, K P Safeena and Jikku Varghese Jacob)
