SC stays trial against Karunakaran in Palmolive scandal case

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Aug 4 (UNI) The Supreme Court has stayed till further orders the trial against former Kerala Chief Minister and Senior Congress leader K Karunakaran in the Palmolive oil scandal case.

A bench comprising Justices A K Mathur and Dalveer Bhandari passed the order yesterday during the hearing of the petition filed by Mr Karunakaran, challenging the Kerala High Court judgement reviving trial against him in the scandal.

The Kerala High Court had held the decision of the Left Front government withdrawing the application, filed by the previous Congress government, to withdraw the case against the former chief minister, was an administrative order and the government was ''not required to give reasons for a change of heart''.

Earlier, the Supreme Court directed the High Court to consider the objection of octogenarian leader expeditiously. Mr Karunakaran, in his appeal in the Supreme Court, contended that the government could not pass such an order without giving reasons for doing so.

Hence, the judgement of the High Court was ''erroneous and not sustainable in law''.

He urged the Supreme Court for setting aside the order of the High Court and requested for interim stay against the trial pending in the court of the Special Judge(CBI) in Thiruvananthapuram.

Notably, Mr Karunakaran is facing allegations of reportedly causing a loss of over Rs 2 crore to the state exchequer in the import of Palmolive oil, during his tenure as chief minister in the 1990s, for personal gains.

UNI

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