Kochi: Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the chief secretary and the water resources department to file separate affidavits on the title and possession details of the controversial property in Pattoor. The court pointed out that the administrative orders of the land revenue commissioner, and constituted by the chief secretary to the government, to shift the pipeline from the property to the advantage of the company is the issue in the case.
The prosecution alleged that the committee dishonestly issued the order. Hence the members of the committee and the then chief secretary should be prosecuted under Prevention of Corruption Act, the prosecution informed. The court was considering a petition filed by former chief secretary E.K. Bharat Bhushan seeking to quash the FIR registered by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau against him in the land grab case. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is also a defendant in the case.
Mr Bhushan submitted that the FIR had been lodged only to wreak vengeance on the petitioner as well as Mr Chandy and others. The only ground on which FIR was lodged is that sewerage pipeline was shifted in violation of Section 16 of the Kerala Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1986, the petition stated. The court asked the VACB to inform it the dishonest element and the gain obtained by the persons involved in the case. VACB submitted that property in question belonged to the Kerala Water Authority. But petitioners denied it.
