Chief Minister V D Satheesan’s move to snuff out a gathering internal rebellion has come in handy for the CPM to accuse him of violating the oath of office.
During his customary post-cabinet briefing on July 15, the Chief Minister held aloft a letter with a list of lawyers recommended for government posts by the Congress-affiliated Indian Lawyers’ Congress (ILC). He said the two names that were eventually chosen as government pleaders, and whose appointments were reportedly objected to by the ILC and the KSU leaders saying they were former SFI and ABVP members, were part of the list submitted by the ILC.
In effect, he was trying to turn the tables on his own party members. And for greater force, the CM revealed the ILC letterhead to the gathered reporters.
It was former law minister and CPM Central Committee member P Rajeeve who fired the first salve. “The Chief Minister’s disclosure that the government pleaders were picked from a list given by Indian Lawyers’ Congress is a violation of rules and a clear case of nepotism,” Rajeeve said. He called it a “grave breach of oath”.
The former law minister said that government pleaders should be appointed from a panel submitted by the Advocate General as per the Kerala Government Legal Officers Rules. “In this case the AG’s panel was absent and instead, the CM put his signature on the ILC panel,” Rajeeve said.
Another former minister, P A Mohammad Riyas, too, called this a violation of oath. He also described the selection of government pleaders as a “case of nepotism”.
When both these leaders charge that the CM had favoured his own party men and thus had violated the oath of office, they are referring to the part in the oath where it says: “…I will duly and faithfully and to the best of my ability, knowledge and judgment perform the duties of my office without fear or favour, affection or ill-will and that I will uphold the Constitution and the laws.”
To be fair, the CM was careful to forestall the impression that he had blindly accepted the ILC recommendations. “It wasn’t just the ILC recommendations, we studied their background in detail and made the appointments,” the CM said during the July 15 press conference. Further, he said the names were vetted by the AG.
However, the CPM is in no mood to spare Satheesan. “The CM has no answer when asked why Sangh Parivar leaders have been appointed,” Riyas said. “He is also silent about the allegations raised by the KSU,” he said.
Ironically, KSU state president Aloshious Xavier is disturbed by the appointment of a candidate with SFI links. Xavier had called it an insult to KSU workers.
In a Facebook post, Aloshious said those who had worked hard for the party and faced struggles as KSU activists were being overlooked, while those who carried out the oppression were being rewarded.
Satheesan, on his part, was highly dismissive of the grumblings coming from the party’s student wing. “Are government pleaders appointed by the KSU unit of the Law College? The KSU unit has got nothing to do with government pleaders. Nothing at all. It is the media that has given such things an inflated importance,” the CM said on July 15.
