The Kerala High Court on Friday stayed the operation of the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court order directing the State government to produce the files relating to the decision to allocate brewery and distillery licences.
The Vigilance court had issued the order on a petition filed by the former Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala alleging nepotism and corruption in the allocation of the licences.
The stay order came on a petition filed by the State government against the Vigilance court order and also seeking to quash all the proceedings pending before the court. The government contended that the complaint by Mr. Chennithala did not disclose any offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The Vigilance court had no power to conduct an inquiry without production of sanction from the government.
