HC cracks whip against Kerala minister
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala high court on Wednesday passed strictures against transport minister Thomas Chandy in an alleged case of land grab and asked the state government why he was being given special treatment.
Chandy’s company had allegedly violated rules to construct a road through paddy fields to a lake resort owned by him in Alappuzha district.
Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking registration of an FIR against Chandy, a bench of justice PN Raveendran and justice Devan Ramachandran said if it were an ordinary citizen, he would have been Jan Feb March evicted using bulldozers and cases would have been slapped on him. All are equal before law, the court said.
The government counsel informed the court that it was probing the charges against the minister and sought legal opinion.
The authenticity of documents produced by the minister on the issue need to be examined before filing a report, it said.
The government also pleaded that no special consideration was given to Chandy. The court said it will later hear other petitions against him together.
With the latest strictures, pressure is mounting on chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to drop the controversial minister, a nominee of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Last week, a vigilance court had ordered a probe into charges against him that he encroached upon government land and built a road that led to the tourist resort owned by him. Earlier, Alappuzha district collector also submitted a report against him.
The minister had denied the allegations, saying there was a concerted move to unseat him.
TRANSPORT MINISTER THOMAS CHANDY’S COMPANY ALLEGEDLY VIOLATED RULES TO CONSTRUCT A ROAD THROUGH PADDY FIELDS 2016 2017 (Till November 8) NITIN GADKARI, Union minister
He said he built the resort 13 years ago and it was not proper to raise the allegations now. He had moved the high court two weeks ago to quash the report of the collector.
An expatriate businessman, Chandy was inducted into the cabinet last April after minister A K Saseendran resigned in the wake of a telephone sex scandal.
Despite mounting allegations against Chandy, the chief minister had defended him on several occasions, inviting sharp reactions from the Congress-led opposition.
“The latest strictures are a slap on the face of the government. We hope the chief minister won’t defend him anymore,” said state opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.
ARUN JAITLEY, finance minister