Kerala clears Rs 50 lakh compensation to Narayanan

The Kerala government on Thursday sanctioned a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist S Nambi Narayanan who was falsely implicated in the fake ISRO spy case.

The government decision comes two weeks after the Supreme Court directed the state to pay the compensation, within eight weeks, and constituted a committee to take appropriate steps against police officials who fabricated the case.

Briefing reporters on decisions taken at a Cabinet meeting here, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government sought counsel from the Law Department regarding possibilities in recovering the compensation from the erring officials.

Vijayan said former additional chief secretary V S Senthil would be the state’s representative in the SC-constituted committee which is headed by former Supreme Court judge D K Jain.

Narayanan was arrested in November 1994 over false charges that he, along with others, had leaked out documents related to cryogenic engine technology through two Maldivian women.

He was then heading ISRO’s cryogenic engine division. In 1996, the CBI which took over the investigation termed the case fabricated and dismissed findings of the state police and the IB. In 1998, the Supreme Court also discharged him.

After the flood

The Cabinet approved a one-year moratorium on repayment of agricultural, dairy and educational loans availed by victims of last month’s devastating floods. The state’s annual plan outlay will also be cut by 20% toward facilitating the post-flood rebuilding measures.

The government will constitute a high-power committee with experts in various fields to coordinate the post-flood rebuilding measures. Committees will be constituted to monitor rehabilitation and reconstruction measures in different sectors.

A ‘Livelihood Conference’ will be held on November 1 and 2 to consolidate details of a rehabilitation package for those who have lost their livelihoods in the flood. The State Planning Board will coordinate the conference, the chief minister said.

The Cabinet also sanctioned recruitment of women, for the first time, in Fire and Rescue Services.