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SC declines plea for further probe against Chandy in palm oil case
SC declines plea for further probe against Chandy in palm oil case.The then Congress government headed by Chief Minister K.Karunakaran had imported 15,000 tonnes palm oil from a Malaysian firm. The case was registered in 1999 when the Left Democratic Front led by E.K. Nayanar was in power.
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New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: The Supreme Court Monday declined to order further probe into the alleged role of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy as then finance minister in the 1991-92 case when palm oil was bought overseas at allegedly inflated prices causing a loss of Rs.2.32 crore to state exchequer.
A bench of Justice T.S.Thakur and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, while disposing of the petition by veteran Left leader and former state chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, however said that the trial court could proceed against Chandy if in the course of the proceedings, evidence surfaces pointing finger at him.
The then Congress government headed by Chief Minister K.Karunakaran had imported 15,000 tonnes palm oil from a Malaysian firm. The case was registered in 1999 when the Left Democratic Front led by E.K. Nayanar was in power.
Karunakaran, then food minister T.H. Mustafa and bureaucrats P.J. Thomas and Jiji Thomson were charged with causing a loss by importing oil from Malaysia at an enhanced price.
The apex court in its order Monday said that the trial court would proceed in the matter without being influenced by the observations by the Kerala High Court, which, while declining further probe in the case, held that Achuthanandan was only dragging on the matter for political mileage. Achuthanandan, currently the leader of opposition in Kerala assembly, had subsequently moved the apex court.
On the plea by Chandy's counsel, the court in its order said that trial court would act in accordance with section 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which defines the powers of the trial court to proceed against other persons appearing to be guilty of offence on the basis of evidence that surfaced during the course of the trial.
At the outset of the hearing, Justice Thakur told senior counsel Shekhar Naphade, who appeared for Achuthanandan, that the state government wanted to close the case but its plea was not accepted by the trial court and the same was upheld by the division bench of the high court.
Naphade told the court that as the then finance minister, Chandy could not escape the consequences of the illegalities in the import of palm oil as he had released the funds. He said the oil was imported without inviting tenders, the CAG had adversely commented on it and relevant rules relating to such transactions had been violated.
Reacting to the apex court's directive, Achuthanandan told reporters in Kerala that he will furnish the evidence against Chandy and he will not be able to escape. Chandy however preferred to keep mum and offered no comments when the media met him.
