KM Mani return to Cabinet no cakewalk
The entire procedure associated with the Vigilance court scrutiny will be completed in four months, which is May 2016.
Thiruvananthapuram: Whether former finance minister K. M. Mani would return to the Oommen Chandy Cabinet before the Assembly elections depends on the speed with which Vigilance special judge John K. Illikadan proceeds with the despatch of notices to petitioners in the bar bribery case and the conclusion of arguments.
Going by the precedent of the previous report filed by Vigilance SP R. S. Sukeshan in June and the interim judgment in October, it is unlikely that the entire procedure associated with the Vigilance court scrutiny will be completed in four months, which is May 2016. But the aggrieved party could explore the option of approaching the High Court to direct the Vigilance Court to dispose of the scrutiny without further delay since the Vigilance had given him a clean chit.
However, the same avenue is open to petitioners - Opposition leader V. S. Achuthanandan, LDF convener Vaikom Viswan, CPI leader V. S. Sunil Kumar and seven others - and the witness Biju Ramesh to plead with the court against rushing through the case to grant political relief to the suspect.