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Former Kerala power minister indicted in a Rs 750 million loss to state exchequer

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Senior Congress leader and former power minister C V Padmarajan has landed in serious trouble after the Justice Balakrishnan Nambiar Commission report indicted him and several former senior officers in the controversial Brahmapuram diesel power plant case.

The other officers include former state electricity board chairmen R Narayanan and R Sivadasan; former power secretary Arunkumar, former KSEB members M M Mathew Roy and Y R Moorthy and former chief engineer C J Bertran Netto. The officers were responsible for a Rs 750 million loss to the state exchequer. The commission has already recommended that the government order a detailed probe to unravel the conspiracy and possible pecuniary advantages made by them.

The Kerala government is planning to order an inquiry into the matter.

According to official sources, the government had appointed the inquiry commission following charges by the then Opposition leader and present convener of the Left Democratic Front V S Achutanandan. Padmarajan had vehemently denied the accusation and had challenged Achutanandan to make the charge outside the House.

Padmarajan slapped a defamation case against Achutanandan after he accused him outside the assembly. The case is still pending in court.

The main charge against Padmarajan and others is that they purchased diesel engines from a French company without inviting global tender and paid an exorbitant rate. Though he claimed that the generators were purchased as per the procedure and rules followed by the Karnataka government.

However, the inquiry found that while Karnataka paid 298.6 million francs for six generators Kerala paid 304 million francs for five generators. The KSEB lost Rs 710 million by way of awarding the contract to the French company.

The purchase did not take into account escalation in costs. It awarded the contract to Tata Projects Limited and for excavation and levelling of land to a private contractor at an exorbitant rate.

The commission further found that Padmarajan approved the memorandum of understanding with the French company without getting details of the conditions. He then signed the MoU in France, though he was not authorised to do do. It said the subsequent KSEB chairman R Sivadasan was enthusiastic in awarding the contract to the French company.

Referring to the contract for the excavation and levelling of 203 acres of land, the commission said the KSEB had awarded the contract to a private individual with a higher rate than two others. Moreover, the contractor failed to complete the work in the stipulated timeframe.

The Congress is likely to face embarrassing moments in the state assembly -- in session -- when the Opposition rakes up the issue. Padmarajan is not a member of the present House.

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