The Hindu : Kerala News : Court reserves order on ice-cream parlour case

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Friday, Nov 26, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Court reserves order on ice-cream parlour case

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, NOV. 25. A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court today reserved its judgment on writ petitions seeking issue of quo warranto against the Industries Minister, P.K. Kunhalikutty, and also seeking further investigation into the ice-cream parlour sex scandal case in the light of the new disclosures made by one of the victims.

The Bench comprising the Chief Justice, B. Subhashan Reddy, and Justice Cyriac Joseph reserved its judgement after the conclusion of the arguments on the petitions. When the case was taken up for hearing, Shaijan C. George, counsel for the petitioners, sought quo warranto against the Minister and contended that the Minister had violated the oath of office by causing the destruction of evidence in the case and inciting violence on the media.

Breach of oath

He said that a breach of oath would lead to termination of the Ministership. K. Ramkumar, counsel for the People's Forum for Natural Justice, Palakkad, which sought to implead itself in the quo warranto petition, argued that the petition had been filed at the instance of the Minister.

The quo warranto could not be issued on the ground of breach of oath. The petitioners were well aware of this legal proposition. He contended that if the court dismissed the petition, the beneficiary of the dismissal would be Mr. Kunhalikutty himself, because the Minister could justify his continuance in the Cabinet citing the dismissal order. The filing of the quo warranto petition was an abuse of the process of court.

AG's contention

The Advocate General (AG), M. Ratna Singh, contended that a quo warranto could be issued only when it was established that the Minister was not qualified to continue in the post. In this case, the petitioners had not been able to establish how the Minister had become disqualified to continue in office. The petition also did not mention as to whether the Minster had been disqualified either under the Representation of People's Act or any Constitutional provisions.

As for the attack on the media at the Karipur airport, he said that the police had arrested 22 persons in three cases registered in connection with the case .

The Advocate General submitted that the Government had decided to order a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Yet another writ petition filed by P.S. Shila, secretary, Ernakulam unit of the All-India Democratic Women's Association, also came up today. Sivan Madathil, counsel for the Association, contended that the court could order further investigation into the case after considering the statement made before a TV channel by the victim as a piece of evidence.

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