No evidence of involvement of Chief Minister in Pattoor case: Court

Thiruvananthapuram: The Special Judge and Inquiry Commissioner (Vigilance), Thiruvananthapuram, observed that there was no evidence of involvement of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in permitting the shifting of water authority pipeline at Pattoor to aid a builder, as of now before the Court. However, the builder had encroached upon government land.

The Court was hearing a case filed by Opposition Leader V. S. Achuthanandan alleging that the Chief Minister and former Chief Secretary aided the encroachment. The Court observed that procedures had been followed in shifting the pipeline.

The Opposition Leader told the Court that government records regarding the land issue had disappeared and this was inexplicable. Permission to shift the pipeline on government puramboke land was given disregarding a report of vigilance police. So, a quick verification by the Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau should ordered.

The Court observed that the matter was being investigated by the Lok Ayuktha. So, it would consider the case after the Ayuktha had completed its investigations.