RETIRED JUDGE SIVARAJAN TO PROBE SOLAR CASE

RETIRED JUDGE SIVARAJAN

TO PROBE SOLAR CASE

The judicial commission to probe the solar cheating case has been formed and retired justice Sivarajan will probe the case. Chief minister Oommen Chandy announced this after the cabinet meeting here on Wednesday.Justice Sivarajan is chairman of Backward Community Development Commission, which is due to expire in 6 months. Sivarajan was appointed during the previous LDF regime and Chandy said holding two posts by Sivarajan does not pose any hurdles legally.

After the HC made it clear that the service of a sitting judge could not be spared, the cabinet decided to opt the service of Sivarajan. The period of the commission is for 6 months and the cheating case right from 2005 would be probed, as per the request of CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Chandy said. The cases related to the previous LDF rule would also be covered. The commission would probe cheating cases in connection with solar case and also analyse if there were any lapses. All issues will be included in this. The UDF govt has no objections to this. The commission would also probe the allegations raised inside and outside the Assembly. Anybody can submit proofs relating to the case, Chandy said.

Chief minister Oommen Chandy said he had personally wrote letter to chief justice twice to spare a judge for the solar probe. Based on this, the HC had convened a full bench and had expressed its inability to spare a sitting judge due to shortage of judges in the HC.Opposition leader V S Achuthanandhan and deputy leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the service of a retired judge would not be approved by the Left.

Prof. John Kurakar