Kerala vigilance court judge requests voluntary retirement after HC revokes his order against Oommen

The vigilance court judge who had opened investigations into Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the solar scam case sent in a request for voluntary retirement yesterday after a High Court judge told him that he should not have gone by newspaper reports, reports The Telegraph. The court also said he had made "jurisdiction errors" and "acted mechanically without knowing the nature and extent of his powers".

Chandy, on Friday, had appealed to the High Court over the FIR issued by vigilance court judge SS Vassan acting on a PIL filed in the solar scam case. While the court stayed the order against Chandy, it lashed out at Vassan who, in his defence, had said that "in forwarding the complaint" he was "acting as a post office". High Court judge P Ubaid told Vassan that the court was not a post office.

Another order by Vassan, this time for a probe against excise minister K Babu in Kerala's bar bribery scam, had also been struck down by the high court on Friday.

Vassan, who is due to retire in May 2017, sent a voluntary retirement request to the high court registrar.

Oommen Chandy has been accused of accepting bribes in return for granting favours in projects relating to solar power. Sunitha S Nair, one of the prime accused in the case had deposed before a judicial commission that she had given the chief minister Rs 1.9 crore.