Kerala’s CPI(M)-led lDF Government has written to the Centre seeking to lower the post of the Director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) from the rank of Director General of Police to Additional DGP even as a controversy is raging over DGP loknath Behera holding the positions of both the State police chief and VACB head simultaneously allegedly without the nod or knowledge of the Union Home Department.
Critics are alleging that the move to lower the post of the Vigilance Director from that of a DGP to ADGP, something the lDF had vociferously opposed when it was in the Opposition, is intended at ensuring that the official installed at the helm of the watchdog agency is someone whom the Government can “keep on its leash”.
The Kerala Government is said to have already written to the Union Department of Personnel regarding lowering the post of the VACB chief from cadre rank to non-cadre rank reportedly on the pretext that there is a shortage of efficient officials though there are already 12 officials holding the rank of DGP in Kerala.
However, legal experts and former civil service officials point out that a decision to lower a post of cadre rank to ex-cadre rank could be taken only through a meeting of the cadre review committee. The last cadre review meeting was held in 2016 and the next is expected to be held in 2019 as such meetings are held once in three years.
Experts say that Kerala’s application before the Union Department of personnel may not achieve the purpose in this context. According to reports, the State Government had written to the Centre about this even before the controversy over DGP loknath Behera continuing as both police chief and VACB head simultaneously had erupted.
Opposition parties are alleging that the actual intention of the CPI(M)-led Government, which had vehemently opposed the appointment of an Additional DGP when the Congress-led UDF was in power, with its move to lower the rank of the VACB chief is to install loyal officials in order to ensure protection of Ministers and others in corruption cases.
Present Marxist Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself was in the forefront of the attack against the former UDF government when it appointed an Additional DGP as Vigilance chief. “They (UDF) have appointed an official with ADGP rank in that position in order to get things done according to its wishes,” Pinarayi had said then.
Meanwhile, the State BJP said it would petition the Centre against loknath Behera, the DGP in charge of law and order, acting simultaneously as the head of the VACB allegedly in violation of rules. Behera is continuing as police chief and Vigilance head for the past eleven months allegedly without the approval or knowledge of the Union Home and Personnel Departments.
As per information provided by the Centre, the Kerala Government had not even informed it of the installation of Behera as the acting chief of the agency on March 31 last year after the removal of DGP Jacob Thomas. According to legal experts, officials cannot be appointed in the post in this manner even on temporary basis.
They also point out that the violation of the rules is all the more blatant in Behera’s case as the twin positions he is holding can lead to serious conflict of interest since Vigilance is the agency entrusted with the responsibility of taking corrupt officials to task. “This is something unheard of in the history of Kerala’s administrative history,” a former IPS official said. Behera is being accused of being loyal to the lDF Government which had given him the twin charges and of protecting allegedly tainted officials in the Police Department he is heading. The Opposition has also charged him with transferring Vigilance officials who have conducted sincere and intense probes against people in top positions.
State BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan said his party would bring to the notice of the Centre how Behera was continuing as head of two agencies in violation of the rules. “The rule is said to be that the Centre should have knowledge about such appointments. The Centre should seek an explanation from the State if its instructions are not being adhered to,” he said.
However, the Congress alleges that Behera is continuing in two positions as it is a matter of convenience to both central BJP and the left. “How could the Kerala BJP, which sends complaints to the Centre against the left on a daily basis even on trivial matters, miss the Behera issue for the past 11 monthsIJ It is simply unbelievable,” said a senior Congress leader.