India News | Kerala HC Quashes Graft Case Against Former Vigilance Director Jacob Thomas
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Kerala High Court on Monday quashed a corruption case lodged against former Kerala Vigilance director Jacob Thomas in connection with the procurement of a dredger in 2013 for nearly Rs 20 crore.
Kochi, Nov 1 (PTI) The Kerala High Court on Monday quashed a corruption case lodged against former Kerala Vigilance director Jacob Thomas in connection with the procurement of a dredger in 2013 for nearly Rs 20 crore.
Allowing the plea of Thomas to quash the FIR registered against him, Justice R Narayana Pisharadi said the former vigilance director was a part of the Department Purchase Committee (DPC), which included representatives from three other government departments, whose collective decision led to the purchase of the dredger.
The court noted that neither the other members of the DPC nor the company -- IHC Merwede -- or its officials, with whom Thomas was accused of having conspired with to procure the vessel, were named as co-accused in the FIR.
It also noted that the government had sanctioned Rs 20 crore for purchasing the dredger vessel and it was aware of all the steps taken by him for inviting the initial tender as well as the subsequent re-tendering due to lack of sufficient technically qualified bids.
In fact, the idea to procure a 'cutter suction dredger' was not the petitioner's (Thomas) idea and it was actually proposed by the Kerala State Maritime Development Corporation.
Besides being accused of procuring the dredger at a rate higher than the lowest bid submitted by another company, the allegations against Thomas included that he had proposed the tender for procuring the dredger without approval of a technical committee, concealed from the government that it was a global tender and that he purchased the vessel at close to Rs 20 crore as against the sanctioned amount of Rs 8 crore.
All the allegations against him in the FIR were rejected by the high court which said that they do not reveal commission of any offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Welcoming the decision, Thomas told PTI that he had "fought this case so that officers who stand against corruption or uphold rule of law do not feel down and get disheartened."
"They will be motivated by this (judgment) to fight against corruption. Ultimately justice will be done," he said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)