Row over tribal fund rocks Kerala assembly

A dispute over the alleged misappropriation of funds for tribal welfare by government officials led to uproarious scenes in the Kerala Assembly and its abrupt end today.

The House proceedings were thrown out of gear as the opposition insisted that an inquiry should be ordered into the charge that officials misappropriated part of the Rs380.34 million earmarked in the Tribal Sub-plan for the backward group's welfare.

The opposition also demanded that Tribal Welfare Minister Dr M. A. Kuttappan be removed from his post pending the completion of the inquiry.

The pandemonium reached its climax as the opposition MLAs rushed to the well of the House demanding details of the inquiries made into the allegation.

They were not satisfied by the explanations given by the Tribal Welfare Minister, the Finance Minister and the Law Minister.

As the opposition members continued their loud protests, Speaker Vakkom Purusho-thaman sought to know if they would allow the House proceedings to continue.

With the opposition persisting in creating noisy scenes, the Speaker announced the session closed till Monday. The protesting MLAs subsequently staged a sit-in demonstration in front of the main gate of the House.

The controversy over the misuse of tribal welfare funds has been engaging much time of the Assembly in the last two days.

Yesterday it cropped up as A.K. Balan, MLA, sought the Speaker's permission for a discussion on the Tribal Welfare Minister's reply in the House on June 25 in this regard.

The request was turned down prompting the entire opposition members rise on their feet demanding details of the inquiries into the issue promised earlier.

The opposition MLAs were not satisfied with Finance Minister K. Sankaranarayanan's statement that the government would probe into the matter and work out the details.

Law Minister K.M. Mani's statement that the opposition could only demand an inquiry but it had no right to demand its specifics further infuriated the opposition.

Opposition leader V.S. Achu-thanandan later told mediapersons that out of the Rs380.34 million set aside for tribal welfare only Rs10 million had been spent till March 1 last.

With a view to saving the sum from going lapse it was withdrawn from the treasury after April 24 and Rs200 million had been spent.

"The remaining sum – Rs180.34 million – is still in the hands of the officials illegally. When we demand an inquiry into it the government tries to avoid it through all possible gimmicks.

"Now the Law Minister has interfered to provoke the opposition and to save Kuttappan. An inquiry should be held removing Kuttappan from the Cabinet," said the opposition leader.