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Appeal against order on Smart City project admitted

Staff Reporter

Single judge's order had quashed poll panel directive to defer pact signing

Kochi : A Division Bench of the High Court on Tuesday admitted an appeal against a Single Judge's order quashing the Election Commission's directive for deferring the signing of agreement for establishing the Smart City Project till the elections were over.

The appeal was admitted by a Bench comprising Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice K.T. Sankaran.

When the petition came up before the court, counsel for the Election Commission Murali Purushothaman contended that the Single Judge's order would be an inducement to the Government of the day or the party in power to make and implement new projects and programmes on the eve of the elections solely for ensuring victory in the elections to the detriment of the other parties, which might be fatal to the moral sanctity given to the model code of conduct.

The Election Commission in the appeal said that though the Government had now decided not to execute the agreement, the issue arising out of the appeal was of wide significance as the matter related to the application of the model code of conduct.

The appeal also pointed out that the Single Judge's order, which traced the antecedents of a project to an anterior date, and allowing the execution of the project on the eve of election would defeat the purpose behind the model code of conduct.

The Government took the decision to sign the agreement on March 1, the day when the elections were announced.

The execution of the agreement by revalidating the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) amounted to financial grant.

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