Kerala Chief Minister seeks probe into circumstances behind ASG's statement

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday sought an inquiry into the circumstances under which Additional Solicitor-General Harin Raval made a statement in the Supreme Court that India had no jurisdiction to detain the Italian ship involved in the killing of two fishermen off the coast of Kerala.

In a letter faxed to Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, the Chief Minister also said Mr. Raval should not be allowed to appear before the Supreme Court in the case in future.

Mr. Chandy noted that the ASG had conveyed a stand contrary to the stand taken by both the State and Central governments in the case.

The Chief Minister demanded that the case be entrusted to the Attorney-General of India.

Attorney-General apprised

Staff Reporter writes from Kochi:

Mr. Chandy said the government had conveyed to the Attorney-General its strong protest over the ASG's submission before the Supreme Court.

The Additional Solicitor-General had made the submission before a Bench of Justices R.M. Lodha and H.L. Gokhale on Friday that the Italy-flagged tanker, Enrica Lexie, was not in Indian waters when the shooting incident took place.

The Chief Minister said the Attorney-General had assured him that necessary steps would be taken after holding talks with the Union Law Minister.

‘Personal opinion'

Mr. Chandy said the stance taken by the legal official before the Supreme Court was his personal opinion and not the view of the Union government. The Centre had supported the stance taken by the Kerala government when the case came up for hearing before the Kerala High Court recently.

The State government had kept the Union government informed about the decisions taken by it on the issue. It had also received the approval of the Centre for its decisions, he said.