The State government has transferred A.N. Neelakandhan, Commissioner, Malabar Devaswom Board, to the Industries department amid reports of serious differences of opinion between him and the board over the recent order freezing the salary revision of the staff.
According to sources, Mr. Neelakandhan was relieved of the post on Saturday. He will take over as Joint Secretary, Industries, to replace Reji Rajendran, who has been appointed as Additional Private Secretary to V. Sivankutty, Minister for General Education and Labour.
The order freezing the long-pending salary revision of the staff was issued to correct “technical errors” and other “anomalies”. In the meantime, many temples had started paying the revised salary to the staff. The Finance department reportedly told the board that it was the responsibility of those who issued the order to correct the “errors”.
This, however, did not go down well with the board Chairman and CPI(M) leader M.R. Murali, who publicly expressed displeasure. An urgent meeting of the board was called too. It is learnt that the board had kept the freeze under wraps. When it came out in the open, various staff unions began an agitation in protest against the delay in implementing the wage revision, which was announced after years of struggle.
