The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has given clean chit to Kerala Administrative Reforms Council chairman V S Achuthanandan's son V A Arunkumar in a case relating to his appointment to the Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD).
The Vigilance has submitted a report acquitting Arun of all charges and this has taken years of investigation. In the report, the Vigilance says that all criteria were followed in the appointment and promotion of Arun Kumar in IHRD.
Kumar was appointed as IHRD Assistant Director during the tenure of E K Nayanar-led LDF Government. The appointment apparently drew flak following the allegation that it was a back-door appointment.
P.C. Vishnunath, a former Congress legislator, had first raised the allegations against Mr. Arun Kumar in the Legislative Assembly. But after a detailed probe, the vigilance reached a conclusion that the issue is unwarranted, and submitted a report in the court seeking the closure of the case. The allegation was that Arun Kumar was appointed in IHRD even though he did not have the needed teaching experience. The vigilance also had in its preliminary inquiry agreed to the findings of the assembly committee. The Vigilance probe has not found any irregularities in the appointment.
IHRD-linked corruption allegations against his son had been a pebble in the shoes of Mr. Achuthanandan, now chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission, for long.