Cashew scam case: Kerala High Court upholds order summoning Industries Secretary in contempt case

The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed a challenge filed by Mohammed Hanish, Principal Secretary at Industries Department (cashew), to a single judge's order directing him to appear in person before the Court in a contempt proceeding linked to the corruption case against Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation Limited (KSCDC) officials [Kadakampally Manoj v. Mohammed Hanish]..A division bench of Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John found no error in the order passed by Justice A Badharudeen requiring Hanish to appear in the contempt proceedings.The Bench noted that the contempt proceedings arose after the State government repeatedly refused to grant sanction by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute former KSCDC officials accused in the corruption case, despite earlier directions of the High Court.It observed that the single judge had already found prima facie material against the accused officials, despite which the CBI could not prosecute them without a sanction from the competent authority.In such circumstances, the Bench explained, a component authority could not repeatedly refuse sanction by effectively overriding the findings already recorded by the Court."Therefore, we do not find any error committed by the Single Judge of this Court calling the appellant before him for answering the charges. If at all he has not committed, the appellant is has liberty to seek for discharge from the contempt case...this court cannot interfere in the order of the single judge directing him to appear in person in the contempt of court case. Accordingly the appeal is dismissed," the Court added..The case stems from a petition filed by Kadakampally Manoj alleging large-scale corruption and misuse of funds in the procurement of raw cashew by the KSCDC. Acting on his plea, the Court had ordered a CBI investigation in 2015.According to the CBI, KSCDC officials had entered into a criminal conspiracy with one Jaimon Joseph and dishonestly awarded contracts to his firm, causing losses of several crores to the cashew corporation.Following the probe, the CBI sought sanction to prosecute former KSCDC chairman R Chandrasekharan and former managing director KA Ratheesh, among others, in the corruption case.The State government initially declined sanction following which the single judge directed a fresh consideration of the matter. However, sanction was refused again.Thereafter, Manoj initiated contempt proceedings and the single judge quashed the order refusing sanction, directing the State to reconsider. However, it refused to grant prosecution sanction to CBI for a third time.Taking note of the repeated refusals despite earlier orders, the single judge, in April this year, set aside the order of the State and directed the Principal Secretary to appear before it in the contempt proceedings..[Detailed order awaited].[Read Live Coverage]