Kasargod land scam: Information Commissioner K Natarajan suspended

[email protected] (CD Network)
November 13, 2012

Natarajan

Kasargod, November 13: Karnataka and Kerala Governor HR Bhardwaj has suspended Kerala Information Commissioner K Natarajan for allegedly trying to intervene in the Kasargod land scam case involving former chief minister VS Achuthanandan.

The Governor passed the order to suspend Mr Natarajan, and has asked for a detailed inquiry to be conducted into the matter, said Kerala Home Minister.

Terming the incident as unfortunate, the state's Chief Information Commissioner Dr. Sibi Mathews said that the move would erode the people's trust in the institution. He also said that Mr Natarajan would challenge the suspension order in court although the latter himself refused to comment on the issue.

A statutory inquiry led by a Supreme Court judge will now look into the matter against the suspended Information Commissioner. If the inquiry proves misconduct on the part of Mr Natarajan, the Governor has the authority to remove the latter from office.

A report by the Home Ministry had earlier said that Mr Natarajan tried to repeatedly influence the probe against Mr Achuthanandan. Mr Natarajan was asking the Investigating Officer to absolve the former chief minister as a first accused in a case where he allegedly aided his relative in getting land illegally, the report said. The officer, VG Kunhan, suspected an attempt at sabotaging the inquiry and subsequently wrote a letter to his senior, attaching an audio recording of an alleged conversation between him and the Mr Natarajan in September. The report also stated that Mr Natarajan exceeded his brief and showed inappropriate behaviour, according to sources.

CPI(M) Politburo member MA Baby said there was no evidence till now to prove that Mr Nataratan initiated the conversation with the Investigating Officer at the behest of Mr Achuthanandan, who has maintained that he did not ask anybody to call on his behalf.

Mr Natarajan, said to be a close aide of Mr Achuthanandan, was appointed as the Information Commissioner during the latter's tenure as Chief Minister of Kerala. Oommen Chandy, the current chief minister, is said to have opposed Mr Natarajan's appointment.

Mr Achuthanandan is being investigated in the land scam case for using his influence as chief minister to allot land in Kasargod to one of his relative, TK Soman, 'unjustifiably'. The CPI(M) stalwart has slammed the allegations as fabricated and has said he has nothing to do with the audio records.

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News Network
May 21,2020

Shivamogga, May 21: A quarantine facility at Bapuji Nagar in Shivamogga on Wednesday evening was vandalised, by a group of people. leading to chaos.

The police had to resort to baton-charge to control the situation.

Locals were opposing the facility, which is being used to isolate travellers from different states in the view of coronavirus.

Deputy Commissioner KB Sivakumar said that the police department will investigate and book a case against the protesters.

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News Network
July 4,2020

A 53-year-old Indian worker in the UAE has missed a special repatriation flight after he dozed off at the Dubai International Airport, a media report said.

P Shajahan, who worked as a storekeeper in Abu Dhabi, was supposed to fly to Thiruvananthapuram on the Emirates jumbo jet chartered by the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) Dubai, Gulf News reported.

It was the first-ever jumbo jet chartered for repatriation.

Shajahan, who had paid 1,100 dirham (USD 300) for the ticket, said that he did not sleep on the previous night as he kept on waiting for the confirmation of his ticket for the jumbo jet flying 427 stranded Indians to Kerala, it said.

He reached the airport early in the morning and after finishing the check-in procedures and rapid test, he reached the waiting area of the boarding gate at Terminal 3 around 2 PM local time, the report said.

“I sat away from most of the others. But I fell asleep after 4.30 PM,” he said.

S Nizamudeen Kollam, who coordinated the charter flight, said that the airline officials could not trace Shajahan when the flight was to take off.

“He woke up and called us after the flight left. It is sad that he missed the flight, which was the first-ever jumbo jet chartered for repatriation. We are now trying to send him on another Emirates flight that we are chartering on Saturday,” Kollam said.

Since Shajahan did not have any money, Jasimkhan Kallambalam, organising secretary of KMCC Thiruvananthapuram, went to the airport to meet him on Friday.

“Since his visa was cancelled, he could not come out of the airport. He had only eaten the snacks in the kit KMCC had given. We managed to give him some cash for buying food through KMCC volunteer Alamsha Latheef,” Kallambalam said.

In March, another Indian expat had fallen asleep in the same terminal and missed the last flight home before flights were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was stranded here for over 50 days before getting repatriated.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 25: Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao on Wednesday called a meeting of online, e-commerce food, medicine, groceries or animal products delivery aggregators at his office in wake of situation arising out of lockdown imposed in the entire country due to coronavirus epidemic.

The Police Commissioner has appealed one representative from each agency to join him in the meeting at 7 pm.

"I have called a meeting of online, e-commerce food, medicine, groceries, vegetables/fruits or animal products delivery aggregators today at 7 pm at my office at Infantry Road, Bengaluru," said Rao.

"One representative from each agency may please come. We promise all cooperation, please come," he said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday confirmed 539 positive cases of coronavirus in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.

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