Vigilance judge seeks transfer of palmolein case

September 24, 2011 06:59 pm | Updated 06:59 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

Vigilance Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge P.K. Haneefa on Saturday requested the Kerala High Court to transfer the politically controversial 1991 palmolein import case to another court.

The court had taken up the case for hearing on its own. On August 8, Justice Haneefa had ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to further investigate the “involvement of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy (as the then Finance Minister) in the case.

Justice Haneefa said he had requested the High Court to transfer the case to another court after “personal accusations” were made against him in the public domain and through the media “several times” after he passed the August 8th order.

He said he had passed the order with “clear judicious consciousness and as due procedure demanded.” The judge said that in the context of the allegations raised against him, it might not be fair to hear the case any further.

Earlier this month, Government Chief Whip P.C. George had complained against Justice Haneefa to the President and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He had also questioned the judge's impartiality in the case.

VACB report

In his earlier order, Justice Haneefa had rejected the VACB's report absolving Mr. Chandy of any involvement in the case.

The court had said that the VACB had sought its permission to further investigate the case apparently to find out exactly the involvement of Mr. Chandy in the palmolein deal. However, its report stated nothing about this aspect and merely concluded that the Finance Department was not responsible for the irregularities in the deal.

In its report, the VACB said the department could not be considered responsible for the irregularities since it had not received certain relevant files.

The court said the Finance Department and the Finance Minister were “distinct and separate”.

The VACB report said it was the Cabinet that had decided to import the edible oil and hence it was “government policy”. Thus, the decision to import palmolein could not be considered as violation of Store Purchase Rules. The VACB said its investigations did not reveal the involvement of any other person in the case, other than those who were already arraigned as accused.

The court, however, observed that “though the government is not accountable to courts in respect of policy decisions, the persons who agreed or took the decisions were accountable for the irregularity or illegality in the decisions.”

Quoting the statements of several accused and witnesses, the court said the proposal to import palmolein by paying 15 per cent service charge to a private firm and without placing global tenders was placed before the then Finance Minister as he was “the final authority to decide the financial propriety of the proposal.”

Urgency of import

The government had sought the Centre's permission to urgently import palmolein to forestall scarcity of edible oil in Kerala when its people celebrated Dasara and Deepavali. Palmolein was imported without inviting global tenders under the “pretext of the plea of urgency based on festivals.” However, “it was yet to be proved that Dasara and Deepavali festivals are widely celebrated in Kerala,” the court had observed.

The judge had said that Mr. Chandy's statement to the VACB “manifestly and visibly” showed that he was aware that “the service fee of 15 per cent was not negotiated,” the department concerned had not invited global tenders and selected Power and Energy Private Limited as the handling agent for palmolein import.

The judge had said the VACB, which sought permission to further investigate the role of Mr. Chandy as Finance Minister in the deal, “does not speak about the aspect of the involvement of CW 23 (Oommen Chandy), the then Finance Minister, though the further investigation was conducted for the said purpose.”

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