Excise minister seeks removal of M R Ajith Kumar from BEVCO chairman’s post

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Excise Minister M Liju has demanded the removal of M R Ajith Kumar from the post of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of BEVCO. The minister raised the matter with Chief Minister V D Satheesan. The minister also demanded the appointment of another officer to ensure transparency in the department. M Liju had earlier expressed dissatisfaction with Ajith Kumar's appointment as the chairman of BEVCO.

Ajith Kumar was also appointed as the chairman of BEVCO along with the post of excise commissioner. Harshita Attalluri held the post earlier. The excise commissioner was the chairman of BEVCO till 2021. Later, when Yogesh Gupta took over as BEVCO chief, he was appointed as the CMD considering his seniority. The later ones also held the post as CMD.

Ajith Kumar was removed from the post of excise commissioner in March following the order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). The Central Administrative Tribunal had ordered that only IAS officers should be appointed to cadre posts and that there should be a recommendation from the civil service board for appointments and transfers.

The order had clarified that the excise commissioner is a cadre post of IAS officers. Based on this, Ajith Kumar, who holds the rank of ADGP, had to step down from the post.