Kochi: Kerala High Court has stayed the order of Muvattupuzha vigilance court order directing VACB to register a crime against former civil supplies minister Anoop Jacob for objecting to the implementation of an order passed by the district supply officer to suspend the license of a ration shop and to blacklist the license holder. V.O. Augusthy Thodupuzha filed a petition alleging that the VACB DySP had conducted a surprise check in the rationshop at Peringassery, run by P. Saidu Muhammed of Idukki, on October 14, 2015, and found that about 330 kg of rice meant for BPL cardholders were issued without proper receipts and that the licensee did not properly maintain the sales ledger.
As per the report the District Supply Officer issued an order suspending the license of Mr Muhammed and to merge the rationshop with a nearby depot. The Vigilance had forwarded the report to the civil supplies Department for suspension of licenses and including him in the black list. However, Mr Jacob, who received an application from the licencee, immediately order-ed to keep the order in abeyance without verifying the matter. The vigilance court had found that the vigilance raid was conducted statewide and hence it cannot be said that minister was not aware of it and that Mr Jacob had not cared to verify the file relating to the subject available in his office and stayed all actions in favour of Mr Muhammed.
