Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 21 (IANS): Hitting out at his successor, two-time former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said Pinarayi Vijayan has created a new record in backdoor appointments in Kerala, leaving the Public Service Commission as a mere onlooker.
"Vijayan has created a new work culture in the state, where B.Tech graduates have to go for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for a living, while someone who has not even passed Class 10 gets a salute from those who have high qualifications," said Chandy.
Chandy was referring to a report which said that two engineering graduates were part of the 30 youths working in a MGNREGS project at Kozhikode. It also included diploma holders from ITI and Polytechnics besides graduates, while Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the gold smuggling case worked in the IT department under Vijayan -- who holds the IT portfolio, in a top post drawing a salary of over Rs one lakh per month, when according to her own brother, she has not even passed Class 10.
The graduation certificate that she produced has now been found to be a forged one.
Even the number two in the Vijayan cabinet, State Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan had to quit in 2017 after it was found out that two of his close relatives were appointed in top posts in state run enterprises.
Later he returned to the cabinet.
In a point to point rebuttal of Vijayan's reply to Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, Chandy said during his tenure (2011-16) in the first four years the Public Service Commission had given jobs to 1.42 lakh people, while Vijayan could provide only 1.33 lakh jobs, by his own admission.
"Figures are there with the PSC about the total appointments made under various sectors. In our time, we extended the PSC list 11 times. We took a stand to extend the validity of the list from three years to 4.5 years, while the Vijayan government waits for only three years, leaving thousands seeking a government job in the wilderness. The Vijayan government has created a new record in appointing relatives and party fellow travellers in posts, leaving the PSC in the dark," said Chandy.