Date:11/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/11/stories/2007121150130100.htm

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Merchiston deal: notice to Ministers

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday issued notice to Forest Minister Benoy Viswom and Labour Minister P.K. Gurudasan on a revision petition filed against the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court order dismissing a plea to register a case under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against them and conduct an inquiry into their involvement in the Merchiston land deal.

In his petition before the Vigilance court, P. Rahim, State secretary of the Indian Lawyers Congress, alleged that the Ministers and the government jointly convened a meeting on May 16 on the pretext of solving a labour problem and decided to allow Xavy Mano Mathew, estate owner, to fell trees from the estate vested in the government and file a pre-dated application before the Custodian of Ecologically Fragile Land to denotify the estate. As a result of the denotification, Mr. Mathew was able to sell 81.5 acres of land to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at Rs.3.26 crore. The court also issued notice to Mr. Mathew.

A writ petition was filed challenging the decision of the government to give 100 acres of land at Thenoor to the ISRO. It alleged that the land was ecologically fragile.

SNC-Lavalin case

A Bench comprising Chief Justice H. L. Dattu and Justice K. M. Joseph dismissed a petition seeking to monitor the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the SNC Lavalin case and a directive to complete the probe in a time-bound manner.

The petition was filed by T.P. Nandakumar, Editor, Crime magazine.