Illegal land allotment case against VS Achuthanandan; K Natarajan to be released from his curse; 12 years' salary with interest

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor is becoming the 'saviour' of K Natarajan, who was sacked as Information Commissioner for trying to influence the vigilance investigation officer in the VS Achuthanandan accused illegal land allotment case. Natarajan, who was also a former DIG, was suspended in 2012 and remained so. Governor Arif Mohammad Khan's move is to order the government to treat Natarajan's suspension period as duty and pay Natarajan his entire salary for that period with interest. The Supreme Court will also be informed about this. The Governor is correcting the unusual action in the case that created a political uproar 12 years ago.

VS Achuthanandan was the first accused in the case of illegally allotting 2.33 acres of land in Kasaragod district to his relative TK Soman from Alappuzha in 2010 when VS was the Chief Minister. The High Court quashed the case filed during the period of the Oommen Chandy government. During the vigilance investigation, ADGP R Sreelekha found that DYSP VG Kunjan had been called by Information Commissioner K Natarajan 20 times on the phone and asked him to submit a report exonerating VS. K Natarajan was suspended by Governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj after this. Natarajan's phone conversation was also released.

According to the RTI Act, a panel of judges appointed by the Supreme Court should investigate in case an Information Commissioner is suspended. As this investigation dragged on, Natarajan reached the court citing denial of justice. Natarajan complained to the governor several times. The Governor sought the Government's opinion on this four times but the Chief Secretary did not reply. The Supreme Court also directed the Governor to take a decision in Natarajan's case. With this, the Governor started moving to cancel Natarajan's suspension and issue an order considering that period as duty.

• The High Court quashed the land allotment case on the grounds that Vigilance was misused to implicate VS and that he, being the Chief Minister, did not misuse his official position.
• The Single Bench opined that one cannot crucify someone who is free from corruption and the case against VS is like making a cross according to the measure.
• The order was stayed on appeal by the UDF government. Pinarayi government withdrew the appeal in September 2019. However, Natarajan was not released from his curse.