High Court Lashes Out at Thomas Chandy: Minister Sought Permission to Resign

KOCHI:
Thomas Chandy has reportedly sought permission from the NCP national leadership to resign from the cabinet.
The Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the lawyer of the State minister Thomas Chandy to consider the option of withdrawing his writ petition challenging the report of the Alappuzha district collector. However, the minister refused to withdraw the petition from the court.
The court has slammed the minister for the constitutional impropriety of questioning the decision of the government in which is is also a part. The court observed whether the minister could file a case against the government.
‘You are attacking the government. The act in itself provides reason enough to sack him, the court observed.
The court said that the minister could approach the government or the collector if there were anomalies in the report. Instead he took the issue to the court of law to cling on to power.
“It’s a classic case for disqualification. The writ petition shows that the Minister has lost trust in the Chief Minister and the government in which he is also a Minister. We are embarrassed to say that a minister cannot file a write petition against his own government,” the court said.
Here, a minister has moved the court against his own government and arraigned the Chief Secretary as a party, the court said. Instead of filing a writ petition, the Minister should approach the Alappuzha district collector and submit that the land in question is not owned by him, the court observed.
Earlier, Kerala Advocate General, C P Sudhakara Prasad, told the state government that the district collector’s report on alleged encroachment of land by Chandy is legally binding and its findings cannot be ignored.
The allegations against Chandy are that portions of Marthandam Lake in Alappuzha were levelled for the construction of his Lake Palace resort and paddy fields leading to the resort were filled in to construct a road. He is also accused of encroaching upon backwaters for constructing parking space. A probe report submitted by district collector TV Anupama had confirmed the allegations to be prima facie true, but instead of taking action, the Vijayan government decided to send the report for further legal opinion.
Chandy’s predecessor, AK Saseendran, also had to resign after allegations of misconduct with a woman surfaced against him.