Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Mr Oommen Chandy on Wednesday said that there was no question of going in for appeal against the vigilance court verdict in Titanium case.
The chief minister said the court had categorically stated that mere mention of M/s Mecon in the letter to Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC) was not sufficient to suggest that he had participated in the conspiracy. “I mentioned the company’s name to apprise the panel about concrete steps taken. Moreover TTP had signed the MoU in June 2004, almost a year before I wrote the letter,’’ he added.
Mr Chandy said unfortunately the judgement was being twisted to suggest that court had directed to make him the first accused. “Chennithala was even not an MLA, MP, KPCC president at that time. Similar is the case of Ibrahim Kunju,’’ he said and added that the court had not passed any adverse remarks against them.
On former TTP officials petition seeking a stay order, he said ; “The issue needs to be examined. I am not going into it.’’ When asked as to how vigilance can conduct a free and fair probe under him, Chandy shot back, “What did Achuthanandan’s vigilance do for full five years ?
Mr Chandy said he was proud of intervening in TTP issue. “SCMC had issued closure notices to 198 factories including TTP in 2004. All TU leaders including the CITU leader who later filed the complaint, urged me to save the factories. I wrote to SCMC chairman Thiagarajan to withdraw the notices. He agreed but put certain conditions; the panel even visited the state. Subsequently we established a common plant in Ernakulam and started work on TTP plant. The panel withdrew the notices saving jobs of thousands of workers,’’
He said major works at TTP plant were carried out during LDF regime. They went went ahead with the work till March 1,2011, the day when Assembly elections were announced. If there was corruption why didn't they stop the work ? What stopped them from taking action for five years ? he asked.
