The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the suo motu registration of a public interest litigation (PIL) in connection with the appointment of V.A. Arun Kumar, son of former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan as the Director-in-charge of the Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD), and to examine his professional qualifications to hold the post.
The direction came in a petition filed by Vinu Thomas, Dean (Academic) of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Thiruvananthapuram, who had earlier served as the Principal of Model Engineering College, Thrikkakara.
The court also directed the stakeholders concerned to permit Mr. Thomas to take digital copy of relevant pages, for him to respond to a memo issued for alleged irregularities in the purchase of items when he was Principal of the engineering college. The contrary would be denial of natural justice, the court said and added that it found it strange that a ‘clerk’ got ‘promotion’ to post of the Director-in-charge of the IHRD because of his political influence.
Mr. Thomas had alleged in his petition that the Director-in-charge was not allowing him to take digital copies of the pages by citing a court order.
Published – June 27, 2025 11:11 pm IST
