Thiruvananthapuram: It has come to light that a staff member of M M Mani, both during his tenure as the Electricity Minister and even afterwards, stayed illegally at the Chithirapuram Guest House of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in Munnar.

Though the audit had recommended recovering the entire loss of ₹3.96 lakh caused to the KSEB due to this unauthorised stay, the Board decided to accept only ₹95,840, along with applicable interest. The concession was granted following a request from the CITU-affiliated Workers’ Association.

Even while serving as Minister and later as an MLA, Mani’s staff occupied a room at the Chithirapuram Inspection Bungalow (IB). The room was allotted over a phone call made to the IB staff by the booking section at the Vydyuthi Bhavan, allegedly at the Minister’s behest. The room rent had been fixed at ₹30 per day for ministerial staff and ₹18 for the driver. However, no rent was paid during their stay, and the room was unofficially occupied. There is no record of the exact number of days the room was used. The staff continued to stay there by repeatedly marking the room as “booked” in records.

After Mani demitted office, his gunman began staying in the same room. It was found that the gunman continued to reside there until a surprise inspection by the Vigilance Department in September 2024.

Mani served as minister for 1,240 days, and it has been concluded that his staff occupied the room for 1,287 days — a number exceeding his tenure. Records show the room was booked by others only for three days. As per the rent rate of ₹30 per day, ₹37,110 should have been collected.

As an MLA, Mani’s gunman occupied the room for 1,198 days. At the rate of ₹300 per day, which applies to the general public, this amounts to ₹8.59 lakh. However, the Workers’ Association requested that the rent for the period during Mani’s ministerial tenure be waived. This request was approved by the KSEB Chairman.

Regarding the gunman’s stay, due to ambiguity over the applicable rate, the KSEB director board decided that ₹80 per day — the standard rate fixed for government employees — would suffice. Thus, a total of ₹95,840 was recovered for 1,198 days.