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Latest Indian News : Judge recuses himself from Kerala palm oil case
Judge PK Haneefa of the Special Vigilance Court, Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday recused himself from the palm oil import case over the character assassination campaigns against him, allegedly carried out by people connected with the Government for directing the Vigilance to probe the role of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the scam.
Announcing his decision to recuse himself from the case at an unusual sitting on Saturday, Judge Haneefa said that he had requested the High Court to shift the proceedings in the palm oil case to some other court. As per schedule, the case was to be taken up on November 10 but the judge advanced it to Saturday by informing all the parties of the decision over phone on Friday.
What forced Judge Haneefa to take the decision was a campaign allegedly carried out against him by PC George, the Congress-led UDF Government’s chief whip. George wrote letters to the President, Chief Justice of India and others calling for executive action against the judge saying that he had violated basic legal procedures in ordering a probe against Chandy.
Immediately after the court’s order on August 8 to the Vigilance to re-investigate the case bringing Chandy under its purview, George had accused the judge of being a loyalist of Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan. He repeated this charge in the letters he wrote to the President, the Chief Justice and others. He had also raised this criticism in discussions aired on television.
The judge said in the open court on Saturday that certain quarters had been carrying out a campaign of character assassination against him through the media and in this context it was improper for him to continue hearing the case. Legal experts said the development could cause uncertainties — at least temporarily — for the corruption case.
Announcing his decision to recuse himself from the case at an unusual sitting on Saturday, Judge Haneefa said that he had requested the High Court to shift the proceedings in the palm oil case to some other court. As per schedule, the case was to be taken up on November 10 but the judge advanced it to Saturday by informing all the parties of the decision over phone on Friday.
What forced Judge Haneefa to take the decision was a campaign allegedly carried out against him by PC George, the Congress-led UDF Government’s chief whip. George wrote letters to the President, Chief Justice of India and others calling for executive action against the judge saying that he had violated basic legal procedures in ordering a probe against Chandy.
Immediately after the court’s order on August 8 to the Vigilance to re-investigate the case bringing Chandy under its purview, George had accused the judge of being a loyalist of Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan. He repeated this charge in the letters he wrote to the President, the Chief Justice and others. He had also raised this criticism in discussions aired on television.
The judge said in the open court on Saturday that certain quarters had been carrying out a campaign of character assassination against him through the media and in this context it was improper for him to continue hearing the case. Legal experts said the development could cause uncertainties — at least temporarily — for the corruption case.
