John Mathai is Kerala's new chief secretary

John Mathai is appointed as the new chief secretary after shifting Muhammed Riasuddin from the post.

Kerala cabinet on Friday decided to appoint John Mathai as the new chief secretary after shifting Muhammed Riasuddin from the post.

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"Riasuddin was posted as the director of Institute of Management in government while Additional Chief Secretary John Mathai would be the new chief secretary", Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan said after a cabinet meeting.

Meanwhile, former High Court Judge Rajendra Babu has been appointed as the judicial commission to probe into the recent "custodial and police-related deaths", he added.

Referring to the terms and conditions of the probe, he said deaths occurred between April 1-16 would be probed.

Cabinet had earlier decided to order a judicial probe into the deaths following demand from the opposition parties.

On the self-financing colleges issue, he said cabinet approved the PA Muhammed committee's report. The report among other things had pointed out some irregularities in the admission of students in some self-financing medical colleges.

However, since the Medical College Consortium has agreed to take only government fees in 50 per cent merit quota seats and considering the court orders on the issue, cabinet entrusted Education Minister MA Baby and the cabinet sub-committee to take appropriate steps on the report, he added.

With regard to fees in engineering colleges, Achuthanandan said talks with Engineering Colleges' Association was still progressing and a solution would soon be found.