KOCHI: A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday upheld the interim order of a Single Judge bench staying the functioning of the Justice VK Mohan Commission, appointed by the state government to probe whether any conspiracy was hatched or deliberate attempts were made to implicate Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other senior functionaries in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case.
The Division Bench comprising Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice Syam Kumar VM issued the order while dismissing the appeal filed by the State government against the Single Judge's ruling.
K Gopalakrishna Kurup, Advocate General, appearing for the State, contended that the Single Judge erred in overlooking the fact that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is not a juristic person or a body corporate entitled to be sued in its own name, and therefore could not have maintained such a writ petition. However, the Division Bench observed that no fault could be found with the Single Judge’s finding regarding the maintainability of the writ petition filed by the ED against the Commission’s appointment order.
On the question of the State Government’s legislative competence to issue the notification, the Bench clarified that this matter would be decided by the Single Judge when the writ petition is finally heard. “We do not wish to address the question of competence, as only the interim order is under challenge in this writ appeal,” the Bench noted.
The order further stated that in staying the notification appointing the Commission, the Single Judge had rightly taken into account the fact that, in light of the notification, continuation of the Commission would run parallel to and interfere with ongoing criminal investigations and prosecutions before the Special Court under Section 44 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Permitting the Commission to proceed at this stage, it observed, would prejudice the accused, derail the course of justice, and was impermissible in view of settled law that a Commission of Inquiry is only a fact-finding body without adjudicatory powers.