V.S ACHUTHANANDAN’S PLEA AGAINST R. BALAKRISHNA PILLAI REJECTED

V.S ACHUTHANANDAN’S PLEA AGAINST          R. BALAKRISHNA PILLAI REJECTED The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan’s plea against release of former minister R Balakrishnan Pillai before expiry of his one year jail term awarded by the apex court in a corruption case.A bench of Justices P Sadasivam and B S Chauhan declined to entertain VS' plea asking him if it was the apex court’s duty to implement its rulings.The bench alluded to its February 10 ruling sentencing Pillai, Kerala’s former power minister, and two others to one year jail term in the graft case and asked VS to approach the Kerala High Court for remedy.“We have passed the judgement. Is it our duty to implement it?” the bench asked while refusing to entertain the Kerala’s opposition leader’s plea and allowing him to withdraw it. The bench earlier on February 10 had set aside Pillai’s acquittal by the high court in the graft case, involving a loss of over Rs 2 crore to the state power undertaking and had sentenced him to one year in jail along with two others.The case against Pillai involved award of a lucrative contract for construction of a power tunnel and surge shaft for the Idamalayar hydro-electricity power project to private contractor Paulose (now dead), causing pecuniary loss to the Kerala State Electricity Board.But before the completion of Pillai’s one year jail term, the state government had given him the remission along with 2500 other prisoners on November 1. VS, in his petition, had also submitted that after spending only 93 days, he had came out on parole and was in hospital.                                                                  Prof. John Kurakar