Defying the agriculture department's dissent, the Kerala government has
appointed G Mohandas as Chairman of the Kerala State Warehousing Corporation,
against whom a vigilance inquiry is going on with respect to the Purchase of
1850 MT Urea costing Rs 93.31 lakh and who is facing allegations of incurring a
loss of Rs 91.76 to the corporation with respect to irregular appointments
during his earlier tenure as Managing Director in the corporation.
The government appointed him as the chairman of the
corporation on November 18, despite the agriculture department stating that all
the allegations and the pending vigilance inquiry should be taken note of
before proceeding with the appointment.
The Vigilance department that was sought a clearance on the
issue, noted that the administrative department can take action as per
provisions under Warehousing Corporation (WC) Act, 1962. Though the vigilance
had not mentioned anything else, the agriculture department in its note, which
is with Express, had stated that all the allegations against Mohandas should be
perused before proceeding. ''During his tenure so many irregular appointments
are made in 6the corporation. Loss incurred to the corporation due to these
irregular appointments comes to Rs 91,76,705. 1850 Mt urea was purchased during
his tenure for distribution among farmers for an amount of Rs 93,31,215. The
urea was not distributed and later it was sold out for Rs 51,66,678. There is a
C&AG report regarding this,'' the department had said in its dissent note.
However, The Minister had given instructions on
November 17 to issue the orders based on the fact that the Warehousing
Corporation Act 1962 does not reveal any disqualification for the appointment.
The Minister is alleged to have ignored the Vigilance inquiry and also the
allegations against Mohandas that has been pointed out by his department.
Source: The New Indian Express
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