Vigilance Court asked to keep pleas in abeyance

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Monday ordered the Thrissur Vigilance Court to keep in abeyance until further orders, any petition seeking permission to withdraw the corruption cases registered against former chairman and two former directors of the Malabar Cements Ltd. Justice N K Balakrishnan issued the order on a petition filed by Isaac Varghese, president, Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Protection Council, Palakkad, challenging the government’s decision to withdraw the prosecution charges against three persons. The petitioner submitted that the state government had decided to withdraw corruption cases against former chairman of Malabar Cements John Mathai, former directors T Padmanabhan Nair and N Krishnakumar. The petitioner said that the Director, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau had already filed a final report before the Vigilance Court in connection with the four corruption cases.  It was due to the continuous legal battle fought by the petitioner that the cases had reached a logical conclusion.