THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Lok Ayuktha has appointed High Court advocate J Harikumar as Amicus Curiae to help the court in the case related to the allegation of malpractice behind the selection of CPI candidate in Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency.
A division bench comprising Justice Pius C Kuriakose and Justice K P Balachandran said that the Amicus Curiae should only look into the legal aspects of the case. The CPI was also given time till November 30 to produce the report of the Commission appointed by the party that looked into the defeat of its candidate in the constituency. The documents should only be seized after November 30 if the party does not submit it. The directive was given while hearing a plea by CPI state secretary Panniyan Raveendran against the order that directed the seizure of the report. The Lok Ayukta had on October 20 ordered an inquiry into the complaint that corruption was involved in the party decision to field Bennet Abraham from Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency. It had directed the investigating officer to collect the report of the Commission appointed by the CPI which looked into the defeat of its candidate in the constituency.
Search and seizure power should only be used if there was any reluctance from the CPI state secretary Panniyan Raveendran in handing over the report, it said. In the review petition, Panniyan said that the Lok Ayuktha’s order was a breach of law and the case did not come under the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC.