THE United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala has run into yet another controversy ahead of the May 16 assembly polls over the reported exemption given to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) from provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The RTI exemption was intended to ensure protection of those who complain against high-profile persons. But the government, in an order, reportedly exempted the chief minister, former chief ministers, ministers, former ministers, Members of Parliament, Members of the Legislative Assembly, IAS and IPS officers from the purview of the RTI Act.

However, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, in a statement, maintained that only the ‘T’ branch of VACB that deals with important and sensitive investigations had been exempted. By the time the Chief Minister’s office came out with an explanation, the matte snowballed into a major row with Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president V M Sudheeran issuing a one-line statement asking the state government to withdraw the notification “exempting VACB” from the purview of the RTI Act.

Leader of the Opposition V S Achuthanandan wrote to the Chief Information Officer urging him to intervene. He said the contentious government order was issued on January 27, exercising the powers vested in the government under Section 24(4) of the RTI Act. This section could be used only to exempt intelligence and security agencies. It does not have any provision to exempt VACB, which is an agency probing corruption cases, the opposition leader said.

CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleged that the exemption was nothing but a ruse to enable Chandy and his Cabinet colleagues who were facing court cases related to corruption to escape scrutiny. Slamming the government, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan said the attempt was to sabotage the RTI due to fear that government’s “true face” would be exposed. “The notification also made the chief minister’s slogan of transparency hollow,” Vijayan said.

Some of the recent decisions of the government on matters related to land have triggered a row, forcing it to have a relook. The Oommen Chandy government and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) headed towards a major confrontation over the decision to allow Poabs Estates Private Ltd, owners of Karuna Estate at Nelliampathy, to pay land tax. While KPCC president Sudheeran maintained that it would be appropriate to cancel the controversial government order, Chandy, at a post-Cabinet press conference and at the KPCC executive committee meeting, refused to reconsider the decision. With the government under intense pressure from the opposition and the KPCC president, the Cabinet has decided to amend the Revenue Department’s order permitting acceptance of tax for 833 acres of land currently under the possession of the Karuna estate at Nelliampathy.

Chandy told reporters at a post-Cabinet briefing that the order would be amended to permit acceptance of tax only if the Poabs Group, which operates the plantation, secured a favourable high court verdict on the ownership issue. The issue had ignited a political storm last week after Achuthanandan, Balakrishnan and Sudheeran mounted pressure on the government to withdraw the order.

Sudheeran, in his opening remarks at KPCC executive committee meeting, made it clear that he was not prepared to compromise his stand on the issue. He criticised Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash who did not respond properly to two of his letters seeking cancellation of the order. At the KPCC leadership meeting, Sudheeran had indicated that he would not support the government’s corruption.

The confrontation, it appeared, was not confined to merely a tussle between the legislature wing and the party, but was turning out to be a personal clash between Sudheeran and Chandy. Sudheeran’s move to put the government in a fix is not acceptable to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala. Sudheeran said that some ministers did not pay heed to the party.

The stage for a heated discussion in the KPCC executive committee meeting was set by former MP K Sudhakaran who pointed out that the KPCC president, entrusted with the responsibility of holding the party together, had paved the way for differences in the party. He feared that it would provide a stick to the CPI(M) to beat the UDF and the Congress now that the state was inching towards  assembly elections. Several leaders criticised Chandy Cabinet for issuing government orders of controversial nature one after the other. They also wanted the government to explain the circumstances that led to the issuing of orders for reclamation of wetlands in some of the districts.