State Affidavit Rejected by SC

8 October 2013
New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Kerala chief secretary’s affidavit in connection with the handing over of the state data centre to Reliance Communication in 2008 and pulled up the state government for its flip-flop in the controversial case.

Earlier, the state government had put Attorney General G E Vahanvati in an embarrassing position by rejecting his position against a CBI probe into the matter. Last month, while appearing for the state, Vahanvati said he had suggested the government to order a vigilance probe. However, the affidavit filed by the chief secretary stated that the state cabinet had rejected the AG’s advice against instituting a CBI inquiry. The affidavit also sought to “correct him” saying the vigilance had already looked into the matter.

The Rs 5.9-crore deal for the transfer of data centre transfer was struck when CPM leader V S Achuthanandan was chief minister. It was alleged that Achutanandan, now Leader of the Opposition, was guided by external interests to strike the deal that exposes the centre — a storehouse of highly confidential information about the state administration — to private business interests.

On Monday, the bench led by Justice H L Dattu questioned how the AG made a statement against the CBI probe when the cabinet had decided otherwise . “We would not ordinarily ask him to record a statement. He is the highest law officer of the land. He agreed to do so. However, today he is not here and the chief secretary has filed an affidavit with a different stand,” said the bench

Source- http://www.indianexpress.com

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