Infopark: Court to pronounce verdict on June 4

THRISSUR: The Thrissur Vigilance Court will pronounce its verdict in the case related to the appointment of Gigo Joseph as the CEO of Infopark, Kochi, on June 4. While considering a petition filed by George Vattukulam alleging that the then Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, the then MP Sebastian Paul and the then Additional Chief Secretary had played a role in appointing Joseph as CEO bypassing norms, Vigilance Inquiry Commissioner V Bhaskaran posted the case to June 4 for pronouncing the verdict. While concluding the arguments in the case, C T Jofy, counsel for the petitioner, submitted all the documents relating to the candidature of 93 candidates out of the 99 who appeared for the interview and pleaded that the first rank holder Kishore Pillai’s details were not  provided by the Information Commissionerthough an RTI query was submitted seeking the details. He argued that it clearly showed the lack of transparency in the appointments.Kishore Pillai was pushed out of the race on the grounds that his application was received late, even as the minutes of the selection committee showed that all the applications were received within the stipulated time, Jofy argued. The government had announced Gigo’s appointment on May 10, 2011, at the fag end of he LDF government, with just four days remaining for the Assembly election results. The petitioner alleged in his petition, that the accused had misused their offices to bypass the norms to favour the appointment of Gigo, who is a relative of Sebastian Paul.Government Chief Whip P C George had on October 06, 2011, demanded a Vigilance inquiry into the appointment of Gigo Joseph. He had accused  Achuthanandan of showing favouritism by ignoring Kishore Pillai, who came first in the selection committee’s list, to accommodate Gigo.