P J Thomas failed to inform the then CM

Arjun Raghunath
The New Indian Express
06 Dec 2010

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Knowingly or unknowingly, the Congress-led UPA Government is justifying an IAS officer who was earlier held responsible by the Congress-led Government in Kerala in 1995 with regard to palmolein import.
Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas, who was a former secretary of Food and Civil Supplies Department in Kerala, was held responsible by the Congressled UDF Government in Kerala in 1995 for sending a proposal to the Centre for importing palmolein to the state from a Singapore-based company without the knowledge of the then Chief Minister K Karunakaran.
The Congressled UPA Government at the Centre is now giving a clean chit to the same Thomas even while the matter is still pending before the court.
The state government had submitted an action-taken report (ATR) to the Public Undertakings Committee of the State Legislative Assembly in January 1995 in response to the Comptroller and Auditor General's report in 1993 citing irregularities in the palmolein import.
The state government had mentioned in the ATR that though the Singapore-based firm Power and Energy Private Limited had sent a letter to the Chief Minister in November 1991 offering to import palmolein under the Rupee Clearance Scheme, thethen Chief Minister K Karunakaran had not even seen the letter before thethen Food and Civil Supplies Secretary P J Thomas forwarded a proposal to the Centre for importing palmolein from the Singapore-based firm.
Excerpts from the ATR
"This letter (Letter from the Singapore firm), though addressed to the Chief Minister (K Karunakaran was the then Chief Minister), was not even put up to him, nor seen by him at this stage but was processed by the Food and Civil Supplies Department.
Based on such processing, the Food and Civil Supplies Department decided to send a formal proposal to Government of India. This proposal dated November 18, 1991 was accepted by the Government of India. It is this acceptance which formed the basis of the entire transaction," says the ATR prepared by the state Food and Civil Supplies Department.
As reported by Express the other day, P J Thomas who was the then Food and Civil Supplies Secretary in the state had sent the proposal to the Centre.
It had also come to light that P J Thomas had written the proposal to the Centre prior to the state Cabinet granting sanction for the purchase of palmolein on November 27, 1991.