Kerala Industries’ minister EP Jayarajan’s appointment of his nephew Sudheer PK as the Managing Director of Kerala State Industrial Enterprises (KSIE) on Wednesday has drawn flak from various quarters.

Though the appointment has been deemed technically correct -Sudheer holds a post-graduate degree in Management- many see the move as nepotism in play, since KSIE comes under the minister’s purview.

As per reports, the said appointment was approved by the CPI(M) state committee a week ago and the Government Order (GO) was issued on Wednesday. Sudheer is the son of Kannur MP KP Sreemathy. She too had faced criticism for appointing her daughter-in-law as her personal staff -additional personal assistant- when she was state health minister in the VS Achuthanandan ministry during 2006-11.

Earlier, when Sudheer had worked as the CEO of NAPT- which trained youngsters for military under the reported guidance of ex army officer-turned-director Major Ravi and Essence Consultancy Services, there were allegations against him for conducting recruitment training in the name of Major Ravi.

His name figured in yet another controversy, when he along with Bineesh Kodiyeri –son of state CPI(M) chief Kodiyeri Balakrishnan- started a medical company.

KSIE is responsible for operating the air cargo complexes at the international airports at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode and also owns Kerala Soaps –a newly started soaps’ manufacturing unit set up in Kozhikode.

KSIE had raked in a profit of Rs 7 crores in 2012-13 while 2014-15 saw a loss of Rs 4.5 crores. 2015-16 however saw its profits increase to Rs17.5 crores.

Both Jayarajan and Sreemathy could not be contacted for their response to the latest controversy, despite repeated attempts by The News Minute.