The Justice V.K. Mohan Commission, which was constituted for probing the alleged conspiracy to implicate Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the gold smuggling case, is looking up to the State government to decide on its future course of action.
The panel had suspended its activities after a Single Judge of the Kerala High Court had stayed its activities on a writ petition filed by the Deputy Director of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last week.
The decision to appoint the commission had triggered a political debate in the State with the Opposition parties and the BJP accusing the government of engaging in arm twisting tactics against the ED, which was probing the sensitive case.
The commission has not wound up its activities but suspended it following the interim order. It continues to exist since the court has not quashed the government order appointing it, commission sources said.
The commission will not comment on the merit or demerit of the order as it is the government order that has been challenged and stayed by the court. It is up to the government to decide on what should be done.
It has neither sought the views of the government nor apprised it about the developments. It has nothing to do but to wait for the government's decision, sources said.
Meanwhile, legal sources suggested that the government could move the court, which stayed the functioning of the panel, to vacate the stay. If the Single Judge turns down the plea, it can appeal to the Division Bench, they pointed out.
Minister for Law and Industries P. Rajeeve said the government had not taken a decision on the issue. A decision would be taken after going through the order, he said.
Incidentally, the commission had appealed to the general public and written to media houses, former and present legislators, Ministers, various organisations of the lawyers, bar associations and Bar Council of Kerala seeking their statements and materials related to the aspects probed by the commission.
It had also sought documents from media houses, including news clippings and CDs, on the news regarding the alleged conspiracy to implicate the Chief Minister and other prominent persons in the case.
Since these activities were initiated before the stay and it was time for the responses to come, the office would be kept open just to collect the response, if any, panel sources indicated.
