Cashew corp graft case: Kerala HC reserves order on contempt plea

Kochi: A high court bench of Justice A Badharudeen has reserved for April 10 its order on a contempt plea against the state govt for allegedly refusing to grant prosecution sanction to the CBI in the cashew corporation graft case, in violation of earlier court orders. The petition was filed by Kadakampally Manoj of Kollam.The case stems from allegations of large-scale corruption in the import and purchase of cashews by the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC). Earlier, the CBI had investigated the allegations following an HC order issued on a petition filed by Manoj and had arrayed former KSCDC chairman and INTUC state president R Chandrasekharan, former managing director K A Ratheesh, and two others as accused.Before filing its final report, the CBI sought prosecution sanction from the state industries department under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The request was repeatedly denied, prompting the present contempt petition.However, the state govt contended that the contempt petition is not maintainable, as there was no contempt on its part. It was also argued that the govt had complied with HC's order by deciding on the application for prosecution sanction — even though it was rejected — and that the appropriate remedy would be to challenge the govt order in appropriate proceedings, rather than through a contempt petition.