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Marad probe row figures in House

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM July 24. The non-availability of sitting judges of High Courts to inquire into the May 2 Marad killings figured in the Assembly today causing some embarrassment to the Government.

While the Opposition questioned the sincerity of the Government in securing the services of a High Court judge to probe the Marad killings, the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, said it was the non-availability of judges that hampered the Government's efforts. However, the Government had some embarrassment in store when the Speaker, Vakkom Purushothaman, pointed out that delay in announcing a judicial probe could give the impression that the Government was favouring those who demanded a CBI inquiry.

The issue was raised by A.K. Balan (CPI-M), who pointed out that despite the Chief Minister writing twice to the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court and meeting him once, the Chief Justice had taken the position that the services of a sitting judge could not be made available to the Government to probe the Marad incidents. The circumstances that led to this situation should be examined, he said.

The Chief Minister was immediately on his feet and said there should not be any misunderstanding about the issue. The Chief Justice had declined to make the services of a sitting judge available only because there were several vacancies in the Kerala High Court. The same was the case with the Karnataka High Court and it would be wrong to attribute motives, he said and added that since the services of a High Court judge were not available, the Cabinet had decided to seek the services of a senior district judge for the purpose.

The Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, said the Chief Minister should clarify whether he had approached other High Courts in the country as had been done by the LDF Government to probe the Kalluvathukkal hooch tragedy. If this was not done, it would create the impression that the Government was in league with those who were clamouring for a CBI probe into the Marad incidents and that would prove dangerous, he said.

Almost concurring with him, the Speaker asked the Government to announce a judicial probe at the earliest.

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