The Kerala government on Wednesday appealed to the Supreme Court against the State High Court’s rejection of its plea to quash the FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the irregularities in the implementation of the LIFE Mission housing project.
The special leave petition was filed late on Wednesday.
The High Court, in its order, had observed that the facts reveal “a high-profile intellectual fraud played” to avoid audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and get kickbacks and gratification.
In its petition, the State, through LIFE Mission, said the project was exempted under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.
G. Prakash, counsel for Kerala, said the State government had not received any funds directly from abroad.
Mr. Prakash said the State had contended that the charges in the FIR were “wholly malicious, baseless,” and fuelled by “ulterior political motives.”
It had argued that there was nothing suspicious in the project. The Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau (VACB) was already conducting an investigation into alleged corruption in the LIFE Mission housing project. The registration of cases by the CBI, transgressing into the States’ power, was a challenge to the very federal structure envisaged by the Constitution.
