Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday rejected his predecessor, Mr Oommen Chandy’s plea for a copy of the Justice G Sivarajan Commission report on Solar scam, clarifying that it cannot be given to anyone before it is placed in the Assembly. In his letter to the Chief Minister on Monday, Mr Chandy requested for the report copy since the Government had already published some of its recommendations and announced criminal proceedings against him (for rape/molestation/modesty outrage).
Mr Vijayan said the report would be tabled within six months though the date had not been fixed yet. The commission was appointed by the previous ministry and action being taken on the report was not “vengeful”. On October 12, the day after Mr Vijayan announcement, Mr Chandy sent an RTI query to the State Public Information officer at the Chief Secretary’s office, seeking copies of the commission report and legal advice given by the Advocate General and the Director General of Prosecution.
Citing this, Mr Chandy said in the letter to the CM that launching criminal action against him without publishing the report or without disclosing its relevant parts “is denial of my rights as a citizen…it is arbitrary and illogical”. “I came to know about contents of the report from the press release you had distributed at the press conference… This letter is being sent in the wake of Law Minister A K Balan’s statement on Sunday that a copy of the report would not be given to me”, Mr Chandy said in the letter, pleading that his rights as a citizen should not be trampled upon. The Government was being careful, consulting experts, before issuing the order for constituting the Special Investigation Team, to be headed by DGP Rajesh Dewan. Already a section of experts believes that the action would boomerang on the Government since charges are not easy to prove.
