World | India
Federal forces court's view questioned
The political violence in Kannur has now brought the CPM-led Left Democratic Front government in Kerala at loggerheads with the state high court.
- Akhel Mathew, Gulf News Correspondent
- Published: 00:48 March 13, 2008
The political violence in Kannur has now brought the CPM-led Left Democratic Front government in Kerala at loggerheads with the state high court.
The new flashpoint emerged even as the issue, having rocked parliament, reverberated in the state assembly yesterday with the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front alleging a constitutional crisis in the state.
The high court's observation on Tuesday that deploying federal forces in Kannur seemed the only way order could be restored in the district has raised the hackles of the government.
Justice V. Ramkumar of the Kerala High Court had gone on record that the presence of sufficient federal forces which would not yield to political clout was the only way out of the crisis.
The observation came as the court heard a plea filed by the widow of a newspaper agent killed in an attack in Kannur in 2006. The court ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into that death.
Left leaders were quick to point out that the court had crossed its jurisdiction and that it was interfering in state duties. On the contrary, the opposition said the high court's observation only underlined the fact that justice could not be expected from the state home department.
CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan held that the court had exceeded itself by making the observation.
Vijayan's remarks drew sharp criticism from opposition leaders, with some of them alleging that it was tantamount to contempt of court.
Chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan yesterday added more fuel to the fire by stating in the assembly that the government was not in agreement with the court's observation and that it would file an appeal to expunge the adverse remarks made by a single bench of the high court.
Meanwhile, normalcy appeared to be returning to the district where Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and CPM activists had left little scope for sanity a week back and seven people dead. Over a dozen people had also suffered injuries in related attacks, including a man and his daughter.
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