Vigilance case against VS posted to April 20

THRISSUR: The Vigilance Court here on Tuesday deferred the plea against Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan in a case related to the appointment of Jijo Joseph as the CEO of Infopark Kochi to April 20 for further hearing. The court asked state president of Malayala Vedi George Vattakkulam, who had filed the case, to produce more evidence against the accused.    Vattakulam submitted that Achuthanandan had committed breach of oath of office by making ‘unlawful interventions’ in the appointment of Jijo, a close relative of ex-MP Sebastian Paul. Earlier, the Vigilance Court had issued a notice to the state government seeking details of the appointment. Jijo’s appointment was announced on May 10, 2011, at the fag end of the LDF Government’s term, just four days before the announcement of the Assembly election results. The petitioner also alleged that Sebastian Paul had influenced Achuthanandan to bypass the norms to post Jijo. Government Chief Whip P C George had also demanded a Vigilance inquiry into the appointment of Jijo.  It was in September 2010 that the Department of Information Technology invited applications for the post of CEO for Kochi and Koratty Infoparks, and also for the upcoming parks at Cherthala and Ambalappuzha. Around 100 applications were received, of which 12 were short-listed by the selection committee