Thiruvananthapuram: Barely two months after assuming office, the V.D. Satheesan government has intensified its scrutiny of institutions and decisions of the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) regime, signalling what is fast emerging as a broad accountability drive across key sectors of the administration.
The first major step was the release of a White Paper on the state's finances, which painted a grim picture of Kerala's fiscal health and alleged years of financial mismanagement.
The document set the tone for the government's promise to examine decisions taken by its predecessor.
The focus soon shifted to the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB), with the government constituting a high powered committee to examine its functioning, borrowings and financial commitments.
KIIFB's off-budget financing model had remained a contentious political issue for years.
The spotlight then turned to the Kerala Public Service Commission (PSC) following allegations of serious irregularities in recruitment to the State Planning Board.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Branch is now probing the selection process after it emerged that the rank list had allegedly been prepared without evaluating answers to ten questions.
Investigators have since obtained crucial records, including question papers, answer keys, candidate lists and details of the on-screen evaluation process.
Now, the Kerala Medical Services Corporation Ltd. (KMSCL), the agency responsible for procuring medicines and medical equipment for government hospitals, has become the latest institution to come under scrutiny.
The Health Department has ordered a comprehensive inquiry after documents revealed that the corporation spent Rs 19 lakh of public funds to secure a 25-year corporate membership at the Thiruvananthapuram Tennis Club, even during the COVID-19 pandemic and a period of severe financial strain.
The probe has also brought renewed attention to earlier controversies involving KMSCL.
The corporation had faced allegations of making 186 appointments without reporting vacancies to the Public Service Commission or notifying them through the Employment Exchange, prompting criticism over alleged backdoor recruitment.
Questions have also resurfaced over a series of fires that broke out at KMSCL warehouses within days of each other during the previous government's tenure.
The incidents, which destroyed large quantities of medicines and medical supplies, had fuelled allegations from the then Opposition that evidence relating to procurement irregularities during the pandemic could have been destroyed.
While those allegations remain unproven, the repeated fire incidents had cast a shadow over the corporation's functioning.
Taken together, the White Paper, the KIIFB review, the Crime Branch probe into the PSC recruitment controversy and the latest enquiry into KMSCL suggest the government is systematically revisiting major decisions and institutions of the previous regime.
With multiple investigations now underway, the political battle over governance under the former LDF administration appears set to intensify in the months ahead.
Another agency that is to go under the scanner very soon is the Rebuild Kerala Initiative (formed soon after the ravaging 2018 floods that left Kerala rippling), where allegations have surfaced that it was one which got huge loan from the World Bank and the accountability of what was done is to be brought out.
