Vigilance court puts Adoor Prakash in dock

Kochi: Muvattupuzha Vigilance Special Court on Wednesday ordered a quick verification against revenue minister Adoor Prakash, additional chief secretary Viswas Mehta, Santhosh Madhavan and two others in the controversial government order granting permission to fill up the 127 acres of land linked with controversial spiritual guru Santosh Madhavan.

"On a perusal of the complaint and documents produced, it seems Adoor Prakahs and Vishwas Mehta were having knowledge regarding the issuance of the order. A quick verification is necessary to ascertain whether there had occurred any misconduct on the part of them and how the private company obtained the order," special judge P Madhavan observed. The court asked the director of Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau to file a statement on or before April 25.

The court issued the order on a plea filed by Gireesh Babu seeking probe into the controversial deal which benefited RMZ Eco World Infrastructure Limited a private company. The state decided to return 127 acre of government-owned surplus land to Santhosh Madhavan for building an IT park.  The lands were earlier taken over by the government under provisions of Kerala Land Reforms Act but the cabinet recently passed an order to hand over the land to Santosh Madhavan using exemptions in the Act.

The government order of March 2, 2016 was passed exempting the operation of Kerala Land Reforms Act. The order pertains to the land situated at Puthenvelikkara in Ernakulam district.

"Most of the facts alleged in the case have to be investigated and it will not be clear at this stage. The withdrawal of the order is not sufficient as even an attempt to commit the above offences alleged is punishable under IPC and various section of the Prevention of Corruption Act," the court observed.

Court made it clear that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy immediately withdrew the order when it came to his knowledge and hence there is no merit in the contention of complainant that CM was also aware of the proceedings or was a part of the conspiracy.