Opposition demands immediate resignation of Kerala CM and two UDF Ministers
In a development which is powerful enough to shake the very foundations of Kerala’s Congress-led UDF Government, the Special Vigilance Court in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday ordered a fresh probe into the Rs 200-crore Travancore Titanium corruption case pertaining to the erection of a pollution-control plant.
As per the order, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will have to be named as the first accused in the case, according to legal experts. There are a total of 11 accused in the case, including State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress and Public Works Minister VK Ibrahim Kunju of the Muslim league.
Special Vigilance Judge John K Illikkadan asked the Vigilance to start the probe immediately and to submit the report within four months. The Opposition, which had failed in forcing Chandy to resign over the sensational palm oil import scam and the infamous solar scam, stepped up its attack demanding immediate resignation of the Chief Minister and the two Ministers.
Rejecting the Vigilance’s earlier probe report exonerating Chandy, Chennithala and others, the judge observed that corruption had taken place in the erection of the pollution-control unit at the factory of the public sector Travancore Titanium Products ltd at Thiruvananthapuram eight years back when Chandy was heading the then UDF Government.
The Special Vigilance Judge, who also rejected the Vigilance’s request to close the case, said that the plant, for which the then Chandy Government had cleared a Rs 256.01crore draft proposal, had been erected without the required studies and disregarding the report of an expert panel on the subject. “The Titanium employees know everything,” was Chandy’s only comment.
The Vigilance’s earlier probe report had said that Chandy and others could not be held guilty in the case, that the maximum loss the plant’s erection had caused was not more than Rs 80 crore and that this could be recovered by selling the machinery purchased for the purpose. The court rejected these conclusions in the probe report also.
As per the case based on a petition submitted by a former employee of Travancore Titanium, there was corruption to the tune of Rs 200 crore behind the erection of the pollution-control unit. An FIR will have to be immediately registered in which Chandy may be named as the first accused while Chennithala and Ibrahim Kunju will be fifth and sixth accused respectively.
The then Government headed by Chandy had cleared the Rs 256.01-crore pollution control unit scrapping a Rs 108-crore project proposed earlier. Even before the project got cleared, machinery worth Rs 62 crore were purchased for the project, which was totally wasted, according to the petitioner.
Demanding Chandy’s immediate resignation, Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan said that the order of the Special Vigilance Court was a big blow to Chandy who had been trying to somehow survive the palm oil case. Observers said that the court order would bring a serious crisis of credibility for the Chandy regime.
“The probe should be handed over to the CBI because the Vigilance under the Government cannot investigate the case impartially. In the meantime, Chandy and the other accused Ministers should stay away from power. If he is not doing that, the Government will face intense people’s agitation,” warned Deputy Opposition leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
Ibrahim Kunju, who was Industries Minister when the alleged corruption took place, said that it was not up to him alone to decide whether he should resign or not. “There have been cases where people had resigned and where there had been no resignation,” he said. State Congress president VM Sudheeran said he had to study the court order before making any comment.