Kochi : The high court on Saturday pulled up the state govt over the slow pace of the investigation into alleged exam fraud involving Kerala PSC members and officials, orally asking whether govt was playing the “Bhai-Bhai” game with the opposite parties in such serious cases.
The court also impleaded V S Jayalal, the de facto complainant in the exam fraud case, as a party to the petition and posted the case to Oct 27. Because of this attitude… If, in a murder case, the accused is not cooperating with the investigation, will you keep your hands tied or arrest him?” the court orally said, that will happen in Kerala.
During Saturday’s hearing, the court orally said that Section 17A of the PC Act, which mandates prior approval before an inquiry or investigation into offences under the Act can be conducted against a public servant, was unconstitutional. Justice A Badharudeen made the observation while considering a petition filed by PSC challenging the state govt’s order to investigate the alleged exam fraud. The criticism came after the director general of prosecution (DGP) submitted that PSC had not cooperated with the investigation. “If you are playing the ‘Bhai-Bhai’ game with the opposite parties in such serious cases, people may think of a third option. They may emerge. Following this, the state govt ordered the registration of a case against PSC members and staff and an investigation into the alleged irregularities. PSC subsequently approached HC challenging the order. The court observed that the state govt appeared to be keeping the investigation pending while waiting for directions from the court. Despite the DGP’s submission that the investigation was under way, the court questioned what investigation was being conducted if the prime accused had not even been questioned. The court further criticised govt for failing to act promptly, noting that it had not imposed any restriction on the investigation and that govt was free to proceed with it. The state govt was using the petition as a weapon either to stall the investigation or to slow it down, the court observed. The court likened the provision to the famous condition in Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice’ requiring a pound of flesh to be cut without shedding blood. The court observed that Section 17A rendered the entire scheme of the PC Act redundant and tied the hands of investigating officers, preventing them from taking any action.