Kochi: There was an ugly spat between solar commission Justice G. Sivarajan and advocate S. Sreekumar, counsel for Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, when the commission objected to certain questions raised by the counsel while cross-examining scam- accused Saritha S. Nair on Tuesday.
The commission observed that the counsel should ask questions based on the commission of inquiry Act as he has no right to raise questions based on the evidence Act. This irked Mr Sreekumar and he said that the commission has no right to say so. The commission asked the counsel not try to intimidate him to which the counsel retorted that the commission should desist from browbeating him.
The situation turned ugly when the counsel appearing for Power Minister Aryadan Mohammad said that when the Chief Minister spent 14 hours before the commission, nobody had any problems. The commission then observed that spending 14 hours before the commission was not such a great thing and that nobody should take it as a credit.
The spat started when the counsel for Mr. Chandy started questioning Saritha on the details of the past cases against her and the commission objected. The commission observed that it was not a criminal court and that the counsel cannot use the commission as a premise to defame Saritha.
The commission made it clear that it will not allow anybody to dwell on the past cases and that questioning should be confined to the matter before the commission.
Plea seeks probe into Saritha’s deposition against CM, Aryadan
In a first, a petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court seeking to register a case based on a deposition made before a judicial commission.
The petition sought to direct the police to register a case to look into the deposition made by Saritha against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Minister Aryadan Muhammed before the Solar Commission.
All Kerala Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Protection Council, President Isaac Varghese, who is a party in the Solar Scam inquiry commission appointed by the government, filed the plea. According to him, Saritha S Nair on January 27 deposed before the Solar Commission that she had given a bribe to the tune of Rs 1.90 crores to the Chief Minister and Rs 40 lakhs to Power Minister Aryadan Muhammed.
Adv B H Mansoor appearing for the petitioner argued that there was a conspiracy behind the statement of Saritha and to find out the veracity of the statement, an investigation was needed.
The petitioner had submitted a detailed representation before the DGP of Police on January 28 but till date no action was taken, he said.
Another charge against CM for hijacking solar project
C. L. Anto, better known as Pavam Payyan, a confidant of former chief minister K. Karunakaran, has accused Chief Minister Oommen Chandy of hijacking his solar project and handing it over to racketeers such as Saritha S. Nair. Mr. Anto told reporters in Kochi on Wednesday that he had met Mr. Chandy with a proposal for an integrated energy and waste management project on July 1, 2011. The then DGP Jacob Punnoose was also present during the meeting. The two project reports, with an economic potential worth Rs 1.60 lakh crore, rested on the concept of waste management using solar energy.
Blaming Mr. Chandy for hijacking his concept, Mr. Anto said that the people should exert pressure on the government to take steps to revive the projects submitted by him.
