Order of Com'ssion probing solar scam to produce letter stayed

The Kerala High Court today stayed an order of a Commission probing the solar panel scam to produce before it a controversial letter written by accused Saritha S Nair.
Hearing a plea by Saritha, a prime accused in the scandal, against the directive issued by the panel, Justice Mohammed Mushtaq stayed the order for two weeks.
Justice G Sivarajan Commission probing the scam had ordered Saritha to produce the letter written by her and handed over to her lawyer while she was lodged in a jail in Pathanamthitta.
The controversial letter allegedly contains names of influential persons, including politicians, involved in the scandal.

In her petition, Saritha said the letter was a personal communication with her lawyer and the Commission's directive to produce it affects her right to privacy, which is recognized as part of right to life (Article 21) as per a Supreme Court decision of 1994 (R Rajagopal vs State of Tamil Nadu).
The scam relates to the duping of several persons by the two prime accused -- Saritha and Biju Radhakrishnan -- who had promised to install solar power panels for them.

The Commission, headed by retired High Court Judge Sivarajan, has examined several people, including politicians from the Opposition, on whether the government had suffered any financial loss due to the alleged deals.

While Saritha was granted bail after remaining behind the bars for some nine months, Radhakrishnan is still in jail.
After the scam had broken out, the opposition had demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy as the names of two of his personal staff had come up during the probe.