Kochi: The Kerala high court is likely to hear on Thursday, August 11 the Oublic Interest Litigation (PIL) moved by five Left Democratic Front (LDF) MLAs against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe into alleged violations in the financial dealings of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
The plea is listed for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P. Chaly.
CPI(M) MLAs K.K. Shailaja, I.B. Sathish and actor M. Mukesh; CPI MLA E. Chandrasekharan and Congress (Secular) MLA Kadannappalli Ramachandran have moved a joint plea in the high court against the ED probe.
Advocate V.M. Krishnakumar, representing the MLAs in the matter, confirmed the filing of the case on Wednesday and that it was listed for hearing during the day.
In the plea, the MLAs have alleged that the ED was carrying out a ‘fishing and roving’ exercise to discredit the KIIFB and as a result scare away its various investors.
They have contended that the only financial transaction under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) which KIIFB carried out was the issuance of ‘masala bonds’ and the same was done with the permission of RBI, which is the regulator.
If the RBI, as the regulator, has no complaints about any FEMA violation, how can an outside agency carry out an investigation regarding the same, is the question raised by them in their plea.
Similar contentions were also made by former state finance minister and senior CPI(M) leader T.M. Thomas Isaac in a separate plea challenging the ED summons issued to him to appear before it in connection with the agency’s probe into KIIFB.
Also read: ED Summons Former Kerala Minister Thomas Isaac Over ‘Violations’ in KIIFB Dealings
His plea, which is listed for hearing before a different bench of the high court during the day, also contended that the ED was attempting to conduct a fishing and roving inquiry into the activities of KIIFB and such inquiries have been time and again deprecated by the apex court.
He has contended that the summons issued to him should be recalled or withdrawn.
The MLAs, in their plea, have claimed that the actions of ED will adversely affect or bring to a halt over 900 development projects, worth around Rs 73,000 crore, in the state.
They have said that any differences between the Union government and the state should be resolved through a dispute resolution mechanism and not by using ED as KIIFB is a state-run entity.
(PTI)
