Kerala govt moves SC against HC order cancelling job to late MLA's son

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 18 Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has moved Supreme Court against High Court's order cancelling a government job given to the son of late CPI-M MLA K.K. Ramachandran Nair. The High Court earlier this month said that a "legislator is not a government servant" and cancelled the appointment.

The government petition says the High Court got it wrong as the state government did this according to the rules and procedures and hence approached the apex court.

Nair, a first time legislator after being elected from the Chenganoor Assembly constituency in the 2016 Assembly polls, passed away in 2018 due to health issues.

Vijayan, in a surprise decision, decided to appoint Nair's son R. Prasanth as an assistant engineer in the Public Works Department, which led to a huge criticism from several quarters.

However, a petitioner from Palakkad, Ashok Kumar filed a plea in this regard at the High Court and a division bench chaired by Chief Justice S. Manikumar ruled that an "MLA is not a government servant" as they have an elected term of only five years, and hence a government job under dying in harness mode is not applicable and cancelled the appointment.

Incidentally, this legal battle comes at a time when a petition is before the Lokayukta after Vijayan sanctioned a substantial sum of money from the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund to clear off the debts of Nair.

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