Former Chief Minister and Congress Party leader Oommen Chandy on Monday filed a writ petition challenging the Solar Commission findings against him and some of his former ministerial colleagues.
When his petition came up for hearing, Justice Shaji P. Chaly recused himself from hearing the case.
The petition will come up before another single judge on Tuesday.
Mr. Chandy contended in his petition that the Commission had erroneously relied on a 25-page letter allegedly written by Saritha S. Nair, an accused in the solar cases from the jail and made part of the report without examining its authenticity and genuineness and arrived at a wrong finding indicting him and other former minister, MLAs and certain police officers in the serious allegation of rape and molestation. The Commission’s observations had caused “serious injuries on his reputation and violated the right to privacy”.
The commission report was replete with “illegality and political motives”.
Terms of reference
He pointed out that the Commission had gone beyond its terms of reference. It had no right to inquire into the grievances of the accused as the Commission was appointed to inquire into the grievances of the victims.
Mr. Chandy said that the procedure adopted by the Commission was vitiated on account of the fact that the Commission included individuals belonging or affiliated to political parties and converted the process into an adversarial proceedings, contrary to the very concept of the Commission of Inquiry Act.
The former Chief Minister sought to expunge the remarks made by the Commission against him and other leaders of his political party. He also challenged the government order for registration of criminal cases based on the findings of the Commission.
