A full court meeting of the Kerala High Court on Monday will take a decision on the second request made by the government, seeking the services of a sitting judge to probe the Solar Scam.
The state government, in the second letter to the Chief Justice of the High Court, had sought the service of a sitting judge, deliberating that the case is important.
The renewed request made by the state government came in the wake of the the court informing the government that it cannot spare a sitting judge. The decision in this regard was taken by the members of the administrative committee of the Kerala High Court. Sources in the High Court said that since the administrative committee of the court had earlier declined the plea, it should be considered by a full court in which all the judges of the High Court would be present.
“The final decision on the request made by the state government will be taken after voting by the judges at the meeting,” sources said. It is however unlikely that the court would change it’s earlier decision with respect to the plea.
The full court meeting will also look into the issue of availability of judges and other situations. At present, as many as eight posts of judges are lying vacant in the High Court against the sanctioned strength of 38.
“The High Court is also vehemently against political parties criticising judicial committee reports thus wasting the valuable time of a sitting judge of the court. At present there is a severe shortage of judges in the High Court. There are also various decisions by the Supreme Court asking the state High Courts not to impart the services of a sitting judge for investigation,” sources said.
The HC had declined the first request after considering various facets of the judicial probe. One of them was that judicial commissions had only a recommendatory power and the opinions expressed by them are not binding on the government.
The Supreme Court had clearly stated that no sitting judge of any High Court should be appointed to head any judicial probe until and unless the matter is of national interest. The apex Court has also held that it was desirable that the judges were not subjected to unwanted criticism on account of appointment as inquiry Commission.