THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Giving a fresh lease of life, the Kerala Administrative Tribunal(KAT), which had its teething problems, appointed Central Secretary Mathew C Kunnumkal and former Special Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh S Pradeep Kumar Naidu as its non-judicial members. The Personnel department has issued an order in this regard after getting the nod from the President of India.The ‘Express’ had earlier reported that the much-aspired KAT was remaining a non-starter even after one year of its formation.Earlier a statutory committee, comprising Chief Justice of Kerala High Court as chairman and state Chief Secretary, chairmen of the KAT and Public Service Commission as members, had proposed the names of the members with the status of a HC Judge.Now KAT, which was set up by the LDF Govt with Justice K Balakrishnan Nair as the chairman on August 25, 2010, under the State Administrative Tribunal Act, can start its functions though the other two judicial members are yet to be placed. The decision by the UDF Government on June 15 to recall the two judicial members P V Asha and Ashok Mammen Cherian, both advocates in the High Court, appointed by the LDF Government, had drawn flack from the Opposition. It is expected that the formation of KAT with Thiruvananthapuram as headquarters will unburden the High Court with three lakh cases, involving the employees, which amounts to one third of the total number of cases. KAT consists of three judicial members, including the chairman, and three non-judicial members. Of the three benches, two will be based here and one in Kochi, to handle the cases from north Kerala. Mathew C Kunnumkal, a 1976-batch IAS officer, has held many important assignments with the Government of India as well as in his parent cadre in Kerala. He was the first collector of Pathanamthitta district and the founder-director of the Kerala institute of Local Administration.
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