Former Kerala High Court judge C.N. Ramachandran Nair, the Munambam judicial commission, during a visit to Munambam recently.
| Photo Credit: File photo
The listing of former Kerala High Court judge C.N. Ramachandran Nair, the Munambam judicial commission, as an accused in the multi-crore CSR fund scam has cast a shadow on the panel.
The Perinthalmanna police filed a First Information Report (FIR) on Sunday by naming him as the third accused. K.N. Ananda Kumar, chairman of the National NGO Confederation, and Ananthu Krishnan, the confederation’s State secretary, are the other accused. The complaint against the trio is that they cheated the members of an organisation, KSS Angadippuram, to the tune of ₹34 lakh.
The State government had appointed Mr. Nair as the judicial commission in November last year to find a “permanent solution” to the contentious land dispute after the conflict between the Munmbam residents, who, backed by certain church organisations, demanded the restoration of revenue rights of their holdings, and the Kerala Waqf Board, which claimed that Waqf land was illegally alienated in the area, snowballed into a social and religious issue between two communities.
The Waqf Samrakshana Samithi, which has challenged Mr. Nair’s appointment before the Kerala High Court, has toughened its stand against him in the wake of the allegations of his involvement in the scam. The organisation urged the State government to cancel his appointment following the developments.
“It is unfair for a person who has been named as an accused in the multi-crore scam to continue as the judicial panel looking into the Munambam land issue. The scam allegedly involves swindling of public money. Hence, the government shall ask him to step down,” said T.A. Mujeeb Rahman, convener of the Samithi.
However, the Kerala Waqf Samrakshana Vedi, which has also challenged Mr. Nair’s appointment before the court, has distanced itself from the latest controversy.
Incidentally, Mr. Nair had suspended the functioning of the judicial commission two weeks ago after his appointment was challenged before the High Court.
Responding to the developments, Mr. Nair said the FIR registered in the case would have no bearing on his continuation as the judicial commission.
“The registration of the case will in no way affect the functioning of the commission, which has suspended its functioning after its appointment was challenged before the High Court. The fate of the commission will be dependent on the outcome of the case, which the Kerala High Court will consider later this week,” he said.
Mr. Nair maintained that he had severed his association with the organisation and relinquished the post of advisor last year. He said the police were yet to contact him regarding the case. Mr. Nair said he would decide on the future course of action regarding the FIR after the police made their next move in the case.
Published – February 10, 2025 09:04 pm IST