Plea for fresh probe on Chandy dismissed

KOCHI: Making it clear that there is no scope for a fresh investigation against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the palmolein case, the Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to carry out further investigation into the deal.A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice C N Ramachandran Nair and Justice P S Gopinathan passed the order while considering a petition filed by BJP national executive member Alphonse Kannanthanam demanding to constitute a SIT in palmolien case as the Vigilance had already reached a conclusion.The court also dismissed the request to monitor the case on a weekly basis, as is done by the Supreme Court in the 2G scam. The court held that there was no reason to interfere in the case as requested in the petition.“The case was originated 20 years ago and the palmolien import was approved by the then cabinet. The Finance Minister alone may not be held responsible for importing palmolien as there is a collective response.In the last 14 years, three times the investigating team recorded the statement of the then Finance Minister. Moreover, the Single Bench is currently considering a similar matter so it cannot interfere,” the court said.“The court did not know, why the Vigilance exonerated the then Finance Minster when they made the then Chief Minister and Food and Civil Supplies Minister as accused. When the LDF ministry was in power, an investigation was conducted in the case,” the court observed.Chandy was not included in the accused list when the chargesheet was filed, the court added. In his petition, Kannanthanam submitted that the court should monitor the palmolein case and constitute a special team consisting of a distinguished panel of IPS officers from across the country.Investigation by the present team would not be fruitful as Chandy is the Chief Minister, he had pointed out. To which, the bench said that at this stage the court cannot grant a relief.“Even after submitting the final report, the investigating agency had sought permission for further investigation and the special judge granted it also. Against this order one of the accused moved the court,” the court pointed out.