A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition seeking a directive to the investigation officer in the bar bribery case involving Finance Minister K.M. Mani to arrive at an independent opinion on the basis of the evidence collected, without any external influence.
Dismissing the petition filed by CPI MLA V.S. Sunilkumar and another person, the Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A.M. Shaffique said that the petition was premature.
Final report awaited
The court said that the averments in the petition were based on media reports and they could not be taken at their face value. The facts remained that the final report in the case had not been filed before the Vigilance court. Therefore, it might not be possible for the court to interfere at this stage on the basis of the allegations in the writ petition.
The court, however, made it clear that it left open the contentions to be urged at the appropriate stage.
Advocate General K.P. Dandapani submitted that the petition was premature and liable to be dismissed.
‘Sufficient evidence’
According to the petitioners, the Superintendent of Police, it was understood, had come to a conclusion that there was sufficient evidence against Mr. Mani.
The Superintendent of Police had submitted before the Vigilance court that the Vigilance had completed its investigation and handed over the final report to the Legal Adviser for the Vigilance, C.C. Augustine, for legal scrutiny.
Conspiracy alleged
The petitioners alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to scuttle the investigation report which had implicated Mr. Mani in the case. It was also understood that the legal adviser who was to scrutinise the report was a public prosecutor.
The High Court had in a slew of judgments held that the public prosecutor had no role in deciding whether a charge sheet should be filed or not.
