Kerala Guv calls pension for personal staff of ministers ‘atrocious’

PTI, Nov 19, 2022, 9:19 AM IST

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Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi: Terming as “atrocious” the Kerala government granting pension to the personal staff of state ministers, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Friday said he would take it up as a national issue as it was a “mockery of law.” Khan, who met the media in New Delhi, said giving pension to those who served as personal staff of ministers in the state for just two years was a total mockery of the law.

It is nothing but ‘fraud and deceit’ which is being played out on people of Kerala, Khan said.

The Governor, who is at loggerheads with the ruling LDF on a number of issues, said addressing this matter will be his priority as it was “absolutely atrocious”.

“With equal vigor, I am going to take up the issue where the staff of the ministers are entitled to life-long pensions… This is total mockery of the law… Absolutely atrocious…”, he said.

Khan further said the young boys and girls of Kerala are going to various states and foreign countries looking for jobs and “here the public money is being spent on these people who are party cadre.” The Governor’s move targeting the pension provision for personal staff of ministers came after he got a firm footing in the state following various court orders vindicating his actions against vice chancellors and various appointments in the universities in the state.

The Kerala High Court had on Thursday allowed a petition against the proposed appointment of the wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s private secretary as a Malayalam associate professor in Kannur University.