Kerala has ordered a fresh Vigilance probe into allegations dating back to Gyanesh Kumar’s tenure as PWD secretary in 2006.

Kerala has ordered a fresh Vigilance probe into allegations dating back to Gyanesh Kumar’s tenure as PWD secretary in 2006.

The inquiry will revisit the earlier finding that no offence could be made out and questions over Kumar’s central deputation.

The inquiry will revisit the earlier finding that no offence could be made out and questions over Kumar’s central deputation.

The case renews scrutiny of how allegations against senior officials are investigated and closed, amid wider questions over the Election Commission.

The case renews scrutiny of how allegations against senior officials are investigated and closed, amid wider questions over the Election Commission.

India is going through an unusually intense institutional confrontation over the Election Commission of India (ECI), with chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar facing mounting criticism over the functioning of the poll panel, the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and questions about transparency and internal decision-making.

The controversy has moved beyond the routine political criticism that follows every election and become a national debate over the credibility of an institution whose decisions determine the integrity of the democratic process.

It is in this charged atmosphere that Kerala has reopened a nearly two-decade-old vigilance trail involving Kumar. The development is significant not merely because it concerns the present CEC but also because it raises questions about the administrative history that preceded his elevation to one of the country's most powerful constitutional offices.

The decision by Kerala home minister Ramesh Chennithala to order a fresh vigilance investigation into allegations dating back to Kumar's tenure as PWD secretary in 2006 brings back a controversy that had appeared to disappear into the state government's files. It also raises a larger question about how India's administrative system deals with allegations against officers who continue to rise despite unresolved questions about their past.

The original controversy centred on the Kerala State Transport Project, a major World Bank-funded road development programme in which PATI-BEL, an Indo-Malaysian consortium, was involved in construction work. The project was already facing disputes over payments, delays, contractual obligations and land acquisition when its Malaysian project manager Lee See Been returned to Malaysia and died by suicide in November 2006.

Also Read: The making of Gyanesh Kumar

His purported suicide notes allegedly mentioned Kumar, who was then PWD secretary........

© National Herald