Kerala: Governor okays list but drops CPM leader
The Governor had earlier sought clarifications from the government on the background of the five.
Thiruvananthapuram: In yet another embarrassment to the ruling CPM-led LDF, Governor P. Sathasivam has rejected the nomination of A. A. Rasheed as a member of the State Information Commission, while he cleared four others.
According to sources, the pendency of several criminal cases against the CPM leader, especially those related to agitations, was the reason for striking down his name as an information commissioner.
He was a former member of Kerala University Senate also.The four cleared by the Governor were administrative reforms commission chairperson V.S. Achuthanandan's press secretary K. V. Sudhakaran, All Kerala Private College Teachers' Association former general secretary K. L. Vivekanandan, general administration department former additional secretary Sreelatha and Travancore Titanium Products former managing director S. Somanatha Pillai.
The Governor had earlier sought clarifications from the government on the background of the five. A couple of RTI activists had petitioned him against the move to appoint those lacking sufficient qualifications as information commissioners. The State Information Commission was functioning only with the chief information commissioner Vinson M. Paul for more than a year as the term of the information commissioners ended.