HC declines stay on Vigilance Court order against Babu

The Kerala High Court on Monday declined a plea by the state authorities seeking a stay on a Vigilance Court order directing registration of an FIR against former minister K Babu in the bar bribery case.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A M Shaffique, however, allowed the state government to challenge the lower court order before an appropriate court.

Declining the plea, the bench said that the Vigilance Court should have waited for its order in the case.

The bench gave its order on an application seeking a stay of the Thrissur Vigilance Court verdict filed by Director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, N Shankar Reddy and other officials, on behalf of the state.

"Having regard to the factual situation, we do not think that we should entertain the application as it is always open to challenge the order in appropriate proceedings.

"It might be true that the Vigilance Court should have waited for order to be passed by this court. But having regard to the fact that order has been passed, it has to be challenged in accordance with law," the court said.

Moving the stay application while the HC was considering a plea seeking a CBI probe in the case, Advocate General K P Dandapani contended that the Vigilance Court order was illegal and its observations unwarranted.

Meanwhile, Babu, who resigned from the state Cabinet last week following the Vigilance Court order against him, also moved the high court challenging the Vigilance Court order.

Last week, the Vigilance Court in Thrissur has ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to register a case against then Excise Minister Babu over corruption charges against him in the bar bribery scam.

The Vigilance Court has also ordered that the first report in the case should be filed by February 22.

Babu resigned as minister, hours after the court ordered lodging of an FIR against him in the scam.