Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 19 – Former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday got interim relief from the Kerala High Court in the solar scam case as the court said the ‘sleaze’ letter should not be discussed for two months.

Chandy on Monday approached the Kerala High Court with a plea to quash the Justice G Sivarajan (retired) judicial probe report on the solar scam, submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan earlier this year.

The high court also slammed Vijayan for speaking about the ‘sleaze’ letter written by Saritha Nair, the prime accused in the multi-crore solar scam case.

The court came down heavily on Vijayan for his press conference wherein he spoke in detail based on the letter, which the court felt amounted to character assassination and could have been avoided.

The letter written by Saritha Nair, when she was in jail, names Chandy and numerous other top Congress leaders for sexually exploiting her.

The multi-crore solar energy investment fraud that rocked the then Chandy government in 2013 was led by Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan, as it came to light that a section of the Chief Minister’s Office had links with the couple.

The court also said the authorities looking into the case can, however, go forward with their work.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal appeared for Chandy, and the plea for the manner in which Vijayan handled the judicial probe report of Justice G. Sivarajan (retd) into the solar scam was pointed out.

When the counsel for the Kerala government asked for a day’s time for the petition to be heard, the court refused and said it would be posted in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, the court directed that the ‘sleaze letter’ should not be discussed either by the media or in any form for two months and posted the case, wherein Chandy has sought quashing of the report, for January 15.

Reacting to the court’s observation, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) central committee member A. Ananthan said he is surprised over the way the court has come out with the directions, that a letter which has already become a public document should not be discussed.

Honestly fail to understand this, because this is part of a judicial commission probe report and it has been accepted by the government and it has become a public document, said Ananthan.

Senior Congress legislator K.C. Joseph welcomed the court’s decision and said all of them are of the firm opinion that the report is being used politically.

Kerala Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader M.T. Ramesh said such letters should never become a public document as there is every chance of it being used for blackmailing.

Sivarajan submitted his report to Vijayan earlier this year.

On October 11, Vijayan told the media that the judicial report has been accepted and cases would be registered against Chandy and all others based on Saritha Nair’s letter.

Following this, on November 9, Vijayan called a special one-day session of the Kerala Assembly to place the report in the house.

(IANS)

Nagpur: As many as 2,965 girls have gone missing from Maharashtra in the first six months this year, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today.

The number has gone up from 2,881 girls, who had gone missing between January 1 and June 30 in 2016, he said in a written reply in tabled in the state Legislative Assembly in response to a query by BJP MLA Randheer Savarkar.

The chief minister, who heads the home department, said, “No case was registered against any particular gang in this connection. Some 12 police departments have been instructed to take immediate action against such activities.”

According to Fadnavis, the union government formed www.trackthemissingchild.gov.in for tracking a missing girl child. “The Railways is also updating their portals www.shodh.gov.in for the same purpose. These websites have been helpful in detecting cases,” he said in the reply.

The state government had undertaken four special drives, such as Operation Muskan and Operation Smile, which helped in finding 1,613 girls between January 1 and June 30, 2016. The drive also helped find 645 girls this year, Fadnavis said in the reply.

(Agencies)

Bellari: CM Siddaramiah said that the Gujrath elections will not affect Karnataka’s upcoming Assembly elections.

Addressing the media here he said 18 Congress MLAs and opposition leaders like Shankar Singh Vaghela have joined BJP, Congress had suffered a setback in Gujarat polls and that Congress has won more seats when compare to the last elections which is mainly because of AICC president Rahul Gandhi,”

“PM Narendra Modi and BJP National President Amit Shah had visited Gujarat 50 times before the election,”

Kannadigas will vote based on the developmental activities done in the state. This, I have realised after 40 years in politics. The Congress will again come to power in the state,” he said expressing confidence.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha was disrupted again on Tuesday as Congress members sought to raise the allegations levelled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi against his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, unhappy over the uproar, adjourned the House briefly.

As soon as the House met, Congress members again tried to raise the issue, but Mahajan denied them permission and went ahead with the Question Hour.

Congress members, however, trooped near the Speaker’s podium and continued to raise slogans demanding an apology from Modi.

“All elections are over, the things that are said on the roads shall not come to Parliament… I am not allowing you to raise the issue,” Mahajan said.

Even then, the Congress members did not stop and continued to raise slogans.

An angry Speaker then slammed the Congress for disrupting the very Winter Session of Parliament, which they insisted on convening and was unhappy over its delay.

“Again and again I am requesting you, don’t disrupt the Question Hour. As per rules I cannot allow and I will not allow…” she said.

“When the Winter Session had not started, you were asking for it. Now you are disrupting the session… I am sorry, please don’t do that,” she said.

“You don’t want the session to run, give it in written… You talk about calling the winter session… this is not proper at all,” she said.

The Speaker then adjourned the House till 12 noon.

(IANS)

Lucknow: A Vishwa Hindu Parishad affiliated activist group on Tuesday warned schools in Aligarh of dire consequences if they celebrated Christmas.

The Hindu Jagran Manch, in a letter to all city schools, has said that if the festival is celebrated by them they would be doing it “at their own risk”.

The warning has sent the jitters down the spines of missionary schools across the city who have been celebrating Christmas, the birthday of Lord Jesus Christ, with gaiety every year.

Soon after the news spread, school managements expressed concern over the warning and called for security.

“We have been celebrating Christmas for so many years and every child takes part in it so happily, how can some fringe elements decide on what is to be done and what not,” said a school principal on the condition of anonymity.

Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh Pandey when contacted told IANS that there was no question of allowing anyone or any group to disrupt any festivities at the city schools. “Anything that is illegal will not be allowed and such designs will be foiled,” he added.

(IANS)