Sprinklr report likely to be delayed, says probe committee

Madhavan Nambiar did not give a clear answer to the question regarding the date of submitting the probe report. "We are going through some extraordinary situations. So, we may not be able to complete things within the planned time period," he said.

The probe committee was formed by the Kerala government on April 22. The committee includes M Madhavan Nambiar, former secretary of the ministry of civil aviation, and Rajeev Sadanandan, former state additional chief secretary of Kerala. The government had asked them to submit the report within a month.

The government had asked the probe committee to inquire into four matters. The first is to check whether the Sprinklr deal has included conditions to ensure privacy of data of COVID-19 patients. Secondly, they have to verify if any lapses occurred while inking the contract with Sprinklr.

The committee should also check if the conditions in the contract were modified and whether the changes were inevitable due to the extraordinary situation of COVID outbreak. The government had also asked the committee to put forward suggestions for handling similar matters in the future.

It was opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala who raised allegation against the government that the contract with US-based company Sprinklr is corrupted and the contract was entered into without following the usual procedures. He had also alleged that Sprinklr violated the privacy of individuals.