Thiruvananthapuram: Former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, 97, has resigned as the Chairman of the Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission. He cited poor health as the reason for quitting the post.
Achuthanandan submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
He had been holding the post since 2016 soon after the Left Democratic Front government came to power in the state. Early this month Achuthanandan had vacated his official quarters in the state capital.
The resignation comes just a few months before the term of the current government expires.
The veteran CPM leader had lost out in the chief ministerial race to party colleague Pinarayi Vijayan in 2016. Subsequently, he was accommodated as the chief of the Administrative Reforms Commission.
Achuthanandan was the fourth head of the Commission and its longest-serving chief since the formation of the Kerala state in 1956.
E. M. S. Namboodiripad, M. K. Vellodi and E. K. Nayanar headed the Administrative Reforms Commission when it was set up in 1957, 1965 and 1997 respectively. Namboodiripad and Nayanar were former chief ministers, whereas Vellodi was an ICS officer.
