R Chandrasekharan
They further claimed that the single bench had foreclosed their right to challenge the validity of the sanction order issued under Section 19(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, granting sanction to prosecute them. Kochi : A division bench of the Kerala high court has stayed the interim orders passed by a single bench, following which the state govt granted prosecution sanction under the PC Act against the accused persons in the Cashew Corporation graft case. The appellants challenged the single bench’s exercise of judicial review of these govt orders in the contempt petition, contending that the court had exceeded its jurisdiction. The case arose from a petition filed by Kadakampally Manoj of Kollam seeking a CBI probe into the alleged large-scale corruption in the import and purchase of cashews by the KSCDC. Pursuant to the HC’s direction, the CBI conducted an investigation and arraigned Chandrasekharan and Ratheesh, along with two others, as accused. It subsequently sought prosecution sanction from the state govt, but the govt declined three times despite the court’s directions, prompting Manoj to file the contempt petition. the state govt granted prosecution sanction in the case, which led to the present appeals While the court had initiated contempt proceedings.