Kerala: CM demands to remove ED report on Life Mission case read out by Congress MLA from assembly's record
Feb 28, 2023
Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], February 28 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Law Minister P Rajeev on Tuesday requested the assembly Speaker AN Shamseer to remove the ED remand report, containing certain allegations against the government in the Life Mission case which was read out in the House by the opposition from the records of the assembly.
The leaders said that the case is still pending before the court, therefore, cannot be discussed in the House.
Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan read out the remand report during a discussion of the adjournment notice moved by him regarding the Life Mission case in which the Chief Minister's former principal secretary, M Sivasankar, is facing a probe by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
However, the Speaker said that he would look into the request and take a call.
"Rule 52 clause (7) clearly says that a matter pending before the court of law should not be quoted in a resolution. The remand report was quoted so I request the member to end the speech," he told the House, adding that the request of the government to remove the records would be considered later.
Kuzhalnadan, while reading out the remand said, "According to the report, Sivasankar told the central agency that there was a meeting between him, the Chief Minister, the UAE consul general and Swapna Suresh who is an accused in the gold smuggling through diplomatic bags case."
He further said that as per the report, Sivasankar has said that he "briefed" Vijayan after Suresh was appointed to the post of Operations Manager in the Space Park project under the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd.
He also quoted the WhatsApp conversation between Swapna and Sivasankar in which Sivasankar said CM had asked to get Swapna a new job which will be low profile with double salary.
On being asked whether the Chief Minister can deny these allegations in the report by Kuzhalnadan, Kerala CM responded by categorically denying that no allegations posed by the legislator are true.
The House was adjourned following the protest and sloganeering by the opposition legislators.
The Opposition opposed the move by the Speaker, claiming that various matters pending in the court have been discussed in the House in the past.
