Thiruvananthapuram: Even before the controversy over appointment of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s private secretary’s wife in Kannur University could end, the wife of Officer on Special Duty (OSD) has run into trouble for allegedly misusing a government vehicle.
Poornima Mohan, wife of R.Mohan (a former Indian Revenue Service official) who is the OSD to Vijayan, was found travelling in a state government car. Poornima, who is a teacher attached to the Sanskrit University, was caught using the state vehicle to commute to college and back.
Apparently, she and her husband Mohan live about 10 kms away from the college where she teaches. Visuals captured by TV cameras show her using the official car bearing a “Govt of Kerala” board.
In 2018, Vijayan himself had told the State Assembly that those misusing the government vehicles would face strict action.
This is not the first time that she has landed in a soup.
A furore had broken out early this year after Poornima (a Sanskrit teacher with the Kalady Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit)was appointed as the editor of the Malayalam Lexicon as it was in total violation of qualification guidelines.
When the pressure mounted, she put in her papers and returned to her teaching job.
This fresh controversy surfaced when Priya Varghese, wife of K.K.Ragesh, a former Rajya Sabha member and presently private secretary to Vijayan ran into trouble after her appointment to a teaching job in Kannur University was first stopped by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and then by the Kerala High Court.
In a audio clip, an official attached to the Tourism Department, which is the body that provides government vehicles to officials, could be heard saying that this vehicle used by Poornima is the official vehicle of Mohan.
–IANS