Saturday, Jul 20, 2002
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Kerala
By Our Special Correspondent
Raising the issue during zero hour, the Opposition LDF members accused the SC/ST Welfare Minister, M.A. Kuttappan, of having played a major role in the withdrawal of funds without proper authorisation and in its alleged misappropriation. They pointed out that as much as Rs. 38 crores had been withdrawn and the money was still with the officers of the Tribal Welfare Department (TWD). They wanted to know under what authority the officers were keeping the money in their hands and what the Government had done about it. Later, while addressing a press conference outside the House, they also demanded a judicial inquiry to fix responsibility for the unauthorised possession and utilisation of Government funds by the tribal welfare officers. When the issue was raised in the course of his speech by the Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, in the House on Thursday, the Finance Minister, K. Sankaranarayanan, had conceded that the method of utilisation of the funds by the officers of the TWD was irregular. He had offered to look into the matter. Raising the issue in the House today, the CPI (M) member, A.K. Balan, latched on to the offer and wanted to know what the Government proposed to do in the matter. Mr. Balan recalled that the SC/ST Welfare Minister had replied to his question on June 25 that the tribal welfare officers had been given time till June 30 to spend the funds. If that was so, the Government had the duty to inform the House what happened to the funds that the officers could not spend by the cut-off date. The House should also know why the Government had not done anything in the matter even 18 days after the deadline for remitting the money in treasuries. Although the Finance Minister and the Law Minister, K.M. Mani, tried to pacify the Opposition with the promise that the matter would certainly be looked into, the LDF members were in no mood to relent. Although Dr. Kuttappan himself rose to say something, his Cabinet colleagues waved him down. However, he later told the House that the officers had been directed to remit the balance amount as on June 30 in treasury accounts. He was informed that this had been done, Dr. Kuttappan said. But the Opposition members soon rushed to the aisle and the front rows demanding to know who had the funds now. As the commotion continued, the Speaker announced that the House was being adjourned for the day and would meet again on Monday. The Opposition members did not hear him properly and remained seated for a while. Only after some time it occurred to them that the Speaker had actually adjourned the House for the day. They trooped out of the House and staged a brief sit-in at the entrance to the Assembly hall. They raised slogans accusing Dr. Kuttappan of misappropriation of funds and demanded his resignation. Later, addressing a press conference, Mr. Achuthanandan accused the Government of trying to shield the guilty. The track record of the Government, particularly the actions it had taken on issues such as dissolution of the State Women's Commission and the Mathikettan encroachments, also pointed to such a direction. The matter should be subjected to a judicial inquiry so that the guilty are brought to book, he said.
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