KOCHI: A day after the Opposition staged a walkout from the Assembly demanding a CBI probe into the Travancore Titanium Products Limited (TTPL) waste treatment scam, it has come to light that they themselves are the culprits in having prevented a CBI probe. During the LDF regime in July 2007, the TTPL had submitted an affidavit before the Kerala High Court opposing a CBI inquiry into the case.The state-owned PSU had filed a 19-page affidavit before the High Court stating the ongoing Vigilance inquiry as a reason for opposing the CBI probe. The affidavit had said the petition was not legally maintainable as a Vigilance inquiry was already going on. Also the averments in the petition were baseless and not sustainable, it had said. The fact that the High Court disposed of the case based on the then state government’s stand in opposing a CBI probe clearly reveals the double stand taken by the CPM on the issue. The affidavit was filed by N Gangadharan, General Manager (Work), TTPL, on July 10, 2007, on a Public Interest Litigation by sociopolitical worker P A Abdul Latheef, son of Abdul Khader of Edappally. Latheef had sought a direction to the CBI to conduct an investigation into the matter. “At the outset, it is submitted that the writ petition is not maintainable either by law or by facts. As a matter of fact, a Vigilance inquiry is going on as per the directions issued by the Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge Thiruvananthapuram into the same allegation. “Further, another writ petition namely WP No 33295/2006 with identical (similar) prayers has been dismissed by the judges of the court. Various other petitions filed before the court on the same issue have also been dismissed by the court. Therefore, the present writ petition is not legal and maintainable,” the affidavit had stated. In the last paragraph of the affidavit, it was submitted that “the Vigilance Department has summoned the officers for questioning and also documents connected with this have been taken away by the said department. Therefore, it is submitted that inquiry into the matter is in progress”. Based on this affidavit, which was submitted before Justice J B Koshy and Justice P R Ramachandra Menon, the court had disposed of the petition.
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