Govt gets reprieve in VS land case
Amid high drama at the High Court here, a division bench on Thursday granted interim stay within hours of a single judge ordering quashing of an FIR against
Achuthanandan in a land allotment case.
Granting the state government’s plea to stay the order, which was a serious setback for it, the division bench comprising chief justice Manjula Chellur and justice A M Shaffique, however, directed the government not to file the charge sheet till final disposal of the order.
Advocate general K P Dandapani argued that the single judge had issued the order without examining the case diary. Secondly, another judge of the court had rejected the prayer of V K Soman, fifth accused in the case, to quash the FIR. There were several documents and witness accounts corroborating the charges against Achuthanandan.
The court did not accept the argument of VS’ counsel that there was no urgency in hearing the case.
Earlier, having found that the government had failed to substantiate the charges against the 87-year-old CPM veteran, Justice S S Satheesh Chandran quashed the FIR.
The judge observed that the case was a ploy of the government to muzzle Achuthanandan, who had been waging a relentless war against corruption. The judge criticised Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan for misusing vigilance to corner a political enemy.
