Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 10 (IANS) The chief whip of the Kerala assembly has hit out at a special vigilance court judge who ordered reinvestigation of palm oil case involving Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.


P.C. George has sent his petitions to President Pratibha Patil and the chief justice of India accusing the judge of violating guidelines from the apex court in the case.

George told IANS that he had made the complaint as a citizen.

"Judge P.K. Haneefa has violated rules, especially two Supreme Court judgments, by ordering a reinvestigation in the palmoil case against the chief minister," he said.

On Aug 8, after the vigilance department ruled there was no case againt Chandy in the import of 15,000 tonnes of palm oil in 1992 while he was the finance minister, Haneefa ordered another probe. He said the report should come in three months.

The case was registered in 1997 when the Communists were in power.

Former chief minister K. Karunakaran, then food minister T.H. Mustafa and bureaucrats P.J. Thomas and Jiji Thompson were charged with causing a loss of Rs.2.32 crore by importing the oil from Malaysia at an enhanced price.

On March 14, the Special Vigilance Court gave permission for a further investigation. This happened just before the assembly polls.