Thiruvananthapuram: Former chief minister Oommen Chandy and colleagues, apparently singed by the Solar scam, have sourced expert legal opinion to petition the High Court against the jurisdictional breach committed by Justice G Sivarajan Commission and the resultant "erroneous" decision by the state government to cause a SIT probe.
"The timing of the filing of the petition by Mr Chandy and colleagues would be a political decision, but a battery of lawyers is ready to pitch in anytime", said a senior counsel at the High Court. He declined to mention prominent advocates from the apex court, who might appear on behalf of Mr Chandy. The major lacunae on the part of the commission, according to sources, are the lack of independent witnesses and corroborative material.
For instance, the commission has lapped up without logic Solar con woman Saritha Nair's allegation that she had handed over more than Rs 1 crore to Mr Thomas Kuruvila to be handed over to his boss, Mr Chandy, when admittedly cheques bounced from her bank accounts with less than Rs 6,000 deposit.
Sources said a body constituted under the Commission of Inquiries Act is bound to abide by the terms of reference, which are limited by the date on which the commission was constituted by the Government order. The Oommen Chandy Government issued the order on October 28, 2013. Allegations of sexual harassment and seeking of sex for favours surfaced later, which obviously were outside the terms of reference No 1, pertaining to all allegations made within and outside the Assembly.
Saritha S. Nair
Sources said the Commission would be impelled to expand the scope of the fact-finding mission given the serious nature of post-Oct 28 order developments. But this the commission could not have done on its own without getting the mandate of the Government, which had constituted it. About ToR 2, whether the exchequer had incurred losses owing to the scam deals, the Commission had not given any answer but computed the expenses incurred by the commission (roughly estimated at Rs 7 crore for four years) as the loss. There was no answer, either on ToR 3, whether the scamsters had won any Government work order.
ToR 4, whether there were any lapses during the case probe (14 cases) during the LDF Government, the Commission has merely appended statements of police officers. Sources said all that the commission had delivered at the end of four years was the letter by a woman, with dubious credentials ever since she had started on a deceptive entrepreneurship venture.
Justice G. Sivarajan
Accused took names of Modi, said Chandy
Q: But the Opposition says Saritha benefited because of your meetings with her. She advertised her so-called proximity with you to collect funds.
A: V S Achuthanandan and (former minister) A K Balan advertised them first. They (Team Solar) sponsored their programme, attended by Achuthanandan and Balan in 2010. Kairali (CPM’s news channel) interviewed him ( Biju Radhakrishnan) as the MD of a big company. They (LDF government) did not pursue a single case against them… They were arrested but the government intervened and said these are civil cases and protected them. They (the accused) used the names of Narendra Modi, P Chidambaram and Farooq Abdullah. They say they have given me Rs 1.90 crore but could not even get a letter from my office. They forged my letterhead and they have been sentenced for that forgery- The Indian Express Delhi Feb 15, 2016
