Kerala politician quizzed over son's appointment

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the opposition in the Kerala assembly V.S. Achuthanandan yesterday appeared before a house committee probing over flouting of rules concerning the appointment of his son V.A. Arunkumar as director of a state-run IT institute when the veteran Marxist was the chief minister of the state.

Achuthanandan at one point of time during the sitting said the panel was going beyond its brief. "He was there for half an hour and said that he never appointed his son as the director," a committee member said.

"He insisted that the committee need not look into other incidents in the Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD) where his son works as additional director," the member added.

The matter was raised in the assembly on July 12 when Congress legislator P.C. Vishnunath presented documents that allegedly showed that rules were violated during Achuthanandan's tenure as state chief minister.