Kochi: Kerala High Court on Thursday asked the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau director to submit his views on giving complete autonomy to the VACB and appointed an amicus curiae and an assistant to help the court arrive at a decision. Advocate-General K.P. Dandapani, meanwhile, submitted that the final report in the bargate would be filed in two weeks.
The court pointed out various flaws of the agency and observed that Kerala is the only state in South India that has clubbed law and order and criminal investigation together.
There are only a few Vigilance courts in Kerala and the trial of around 600 cases is in progress, the court observed.
The amicus curiae, Director-General of Prosecution, state prosecutor and other key lawyers will assist the court in deciding whether the autonomy of VACB will be modified in line with the Central Bureau of Investigation in corruption cases. The court asked the amicus curiae to submit the preliminarily reports within three weeks.
It asked the VACB director file a report showing the functional structure of VACB and submit the recommendations sent by the agency to the government for giving it provisional autonomy and organisational freedom.
Justice Alexander Thomas issued the order on the petitions challenging the anomalies in the Vigilance investigation, including the bar bribery case, in which two sitting ministers are allegedly involved. Advocate K. Jayakumar will be the senior amicus curiae while advocate P.B. Krishnan will assist him.
