The HMT land deal is different from the scams of the past. This is not a tale of corruption by one individual, one party or one institution. It is possible to believe that the state has the ability to deal with such corruption. The instruments of the state may not use that ability. Even then it is possible to sustain belief in it. It is, however, doubtful if the state can truthfully investigate the irregularities in this deal. The doubts arise not from the allegations of political opponents but from the explanations offered by ruling party spokespersons.
Lots of files landed on the tables and in front of the cameras of media syndicates last week. As rival factions vied with each other and brought out documents relating to the HMT land deal, dwarfing Shahjehan, who had been enthroned as the emperor of media leaks, one thing became clear. HMT had sold land to a private company with the prior knowledge of the major elements of Kerala’s power structure. Among them are ministers, party leaders, trade union leaders and bureaucrats.
It was to establish that Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan was aware of the deal that the CPI (M)’s Ernakulam district secretary revealed that there had been discussions on it at party and government levels for months. As the main ruling party, the CPI (M) has the right to instruct the government on what policy to adopt. For the present let us overlook the technical argument that since a front is in power, this right actually belongs to the front and not to any single party. But the public is entitled to know what all were discussed for months.
The role of the trade union leaders in this matter is as suspicious as that of the party leaders. A union had played a decisive role in facilitating the deal between Sevi Mano Mathew and ISRO. It was at a meeting convened by the Labour Minister to discuss an issue raised by the union that the decision to remove the obstacles in the way of the deal was taken. Here we see evidence of a strategy of advancing capitalist interests under cover of labour interests. Union leaders are politically impotent. If they allow themselves to be used as a cover, it is reasonable to assume that they have set a price for it and those concerned are paying it. The public is entitled to know what that price is.
The HMT deal became a topic of controversy when the Chief Minister stayed away from the foundation stone laying ceremony at the land Blue Star Realtors Private Limited acquired from it. After laying the stone, Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem said his department had nothing to do with the deal. He added that Kinfra had all information at its disposal. Kinfra is a public sector undertaking directly under the Industries department. Pinarayi Vijayan was quick to realize that if would be difficult for the Industries Minister to escape blame if Kinfra was in the picture. Without losing a minute, he offered an alternative explanation. Since HMT is a Central undertaking, it is the Centre that has to answer the charges about the deal, he said. Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan immediately repeated it. Pinarayi has constituted a committee to look into the deal. It is headed by Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. Now we don’t have to wait for its report to know its finding. Why did the party appoint an inquiry committee if it is for the Centre to answer the charges? That, too, after the State government had ordered an inquiry?
According to HMT’s explanation, its deal was transparent. But why it placed the advertisement offering land for sale only in Mumbai papers is a matter worth looking into. Available information about Blue Star Realtors Private Limited, which struck the deal with it, is far from satisfactory. The name itself makes clear that it is a real estate company. HMT and Kareem are saying that it is a subsidiary of a company named HDIL. Kareem claims it acquired the land for HDIL to set up Cyber City, an information technology project. Anyone planning to set up an IT project must approach the IT department. But neither HDIL nor Blue Star got in touch with it. Their contacts are all with Kareem.
When we try to find out what HDIL is, we find that behind those four letters stands Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited. All that it says about itself at its website is that it is one of India’s large real estate developers. Here some questions arise, such as why does a public limited company engaged in real estate developments needs a private limited subsidiary to do the same thing.
When the Kerala government sought to resume 400 acres of excess land in HMT’s possession, it had sought permission to retain 100 acres for its future developmental activities, and this was agreed to. It is from out of these 100 acres that the company has sold 70 acres to ward off financial problems. To get the complete story of the talks at party and government levels which went on for months we have to inquire what happened to the remaining 30 acres also.
The attempt to find out who all knew how much about the deal is no longer quite relevant. For it has been established beyond doubt that people at different levels of the administration were involved in the deal. We should now be considering how the deal can be undone and we can recover the state’s asset that was alienated. It is difficult to believe that the minds and hands of those who are trying to validate the deal, instead of undoing it, are clean.
Based on "Nerkkazhcha" column appearing in Kerala Kaumudi dated February 7, 2008
Showing posts with label HMT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HMT. Show all posts
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
Party factionalism casts its shadow on government
It is clear as daylight that State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan will emerge with increased strength from the conference of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), scheduled to be held at Kottayam. It is equally clear that the sectarian feud, which has been raging in the party for some years, will continue.
The party conferences from the branch level upwards had seen intense warfare between the rival factions. Now the battleground has shifted to the government. The General Administration department, which is directly under Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, issued last week a circular naming the Information Technology department, which is also under him, as the nodal agency for all IT projects.
The official notification in effect denies Industry Minister Elamaram Karim, who belongs to the Pinarayi Vijayan faction, the power to clear IT projects without reference to the Chief Minister. It is a direct sequel to the differences between Achuthanandan and Karim over the Cyber City project, which is supposed to come up on the land which HMT Limited, a Central government undertaking, sold to Blue Star Realtors, a Mumbai-based company. As was stated in this column last week, Karim had laid the foundation stone as Achuthanandan stayed away.
Alleging that the HMT land deal was illegal, the opposition United Democratic Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party have called for a judicial inquiry.
They have also demanded the resignation of Karim as well as Revenue Minister KP Rajendran. The two ministers had intervened to speed up completion of the land deal.
Material which has become public in the last few days make it clear that the CPI-M leaders and its trade union leaders had participated in the prolonged negotiations between the HMT and the Mumbai firm which resulted in the deal.
According to Gopi Kottamurickal, secretary of the CPI-M Ernakulam district committee, there were months of negotiations in which party and government representatives were involved. Although he was with Achuthanandan in the factional war, he has now distanced himself from the Chief Minister and thrown his weight behind Karim. Responding to his statement, Achuthanandan said Kottamurickal was talking without knowing all the facts.
When suspicions about the land deal arose, Karim had sought to extricate himself by saying the government was not involved in the deal and its only interest was to ensure that the State did not lose an IT project.
He, however, acknowledged that the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (Kinfra) was fully aware of the transaction.
Pinarayi Vijayan, realizing that since Kinfra came under the Industries department, public acknowledgment of its role would implicate Karim, changed tack. He said the deal was between a Central undertaking and a private company, and the State government did not come into the picture. What began as a dispute between the two factions of the CPI (M) soon turned into an issue between the government and the party.
After the State Cabinet decided to ask a committee of officials, headed by the Chief Secretary, to go into the legality of the land deal, the party's State Committee decided ordered an inquiry by Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac. Neither the official probe nor the party probe is likely to carry conviction with the public.
The UDF has pointed out that an inquiry by officials in a matter involving ministers was only eyewash. Since the two ministers conducting the party probe are strong supporters of Pinarayi Vijayan, its outcome cannot be any different.
Last week the rival factions flooded the media with information designed to discredit each other's claims. Industries Ministry sources leaked material to establish that Achuthanandan was in the know of the developments. The Mumbai company had written to the Chief Minister seeking help to complete the transaction, and his office had passed it on to the Industries Minister for processing.
Material leaked by the rival camp showed that the Industries department intervened to facilitate the completion of the transaction ignoring notes from the Law department and the Collector of Ernakulam which said HMT was not entitled to sell the land.
Although the Revenue Minister acted in aid of the Industries Minister and helped to push the land deal, his party, the CPI, which is the second biggest constituent of the ruling front, has directed him to cancel the deal and resume the land. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, Februay 4, 2008.
The party conferences from the branch level upwards had seen intense warfare between the rival factions. Now the battleground has shifted to the government. The General Administration department, which is directly under Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, issued last week a circular naming the Information Technology department, which is also under him, as the nodal agency for all IT projects.
The official notification in effect denies Industry Minister Elamaram Karim, who belongs to the Pinarayi Vijayan faction, the power to clear IT projects without reference to the Chief Minister. It is a direct sequel to the differences between Achuthanandan and Karim over the Cyber City project, which is supposed to come up on the land which HMT Limited, a Central government undertaking, sold to Blue Star Realtors, a Mumbai-based company. As was stated in this column last week, Karim had laid the foundation stone as Achuthanandan stayed away.
Alleging that the HMT land deal was illegal, the opposition United Democratic Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party have called for a judicial inquiry.
They have also demanded the resignation of Karim as well as Revenue Minister KP Rajendran. The two ministers had intervened to speed up completion of the land deal.
Material which has become public in the last few days make it clear that the CPI-M leaders and its trade union leaders had participated in the prolonged negotiations between the HMT and the Mumbai firm which resulted in the deal.
According to Gopi Kottamurickal, secretary of the CPI-M Ernakulam district committee, there were months of negotiations in which party and government representatives were involved. Although he was with Achuthanandan in the factional war, he has now distanced himself from the Chief Minister and thrown his weight behind Karim. Responding to his statement, Achuthanandan said Kottamurickal was talking without knowing all the facts.
When suspicions about the land deal arose, Karim had sought to extricate himself by saying the government was not involved in the deal and its only interest was to ensure that the State did not lose an IT project.
He, however, acknowledged that the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (Kinfra) was fully aware of the transaction.
Pinarayi Vijayan, realizing that since Kinfra came under the Industries department, public acknowledgment of its role would implicate Karim, changed tack. He said the deal was between a Central undertaking and a private company, and the State government did not come into the picture. What began as a dispute between the two factions of the CPI (M) soon turned into an issue between the government and the party.
After the State Cabinet decided to ask a committee of officials, headed by the Chief Secretary, to go into the legality of the land deal, the party's State Committee decided ordered an inquiry by Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac. Neither the official probe nor the party probe is likely to carry conviction with the public.
The UDF has pointed out that an inquiry by officials in a matter involving ministers was only eyewash. Since the two ministers conducting the party probe are strong supporters of Pinarayi Vijayan, its outcome cannot be any different.
Last week the rival factions flooded the media with information designed to discredit each other's claims. Industries Ministry sources leaked material to establish that Achuthanandan was in the know of the developments. The Mumbai company had written to the Chief Minister seeking help to complete the transaction, and his office had passed it on to the Industries Minister for processing.
Material leaked by the rival camp showed that the Industries department intervened to facilitate the completion of the transaction ignoring notes from the Law department and the Collector of Ernakulam which said HMT was not entitled to sell the land.
Although the Revenue Minister acted in aid of the Industries Minister and helped to push the land deal, his party, the CPI, which is the second biggest constituent of the ruling front, has directed him to cancel the deal and resume the land. --Gulf Today, Sharjah, Februay 4, 2008.
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