Court says ex-speaker violated rights of assembly members

The Kerala High Court yesterday ruled that Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman in his earlier position as Kerala Assembly Speaker had violated the rights of assembly members in connection with what has now come to be known as the fake fax case.

The case related to an incident in July 2003 when 24 MLAs of the Congress (I) group decided to vote against the vote on account in the assembly which would have led to the failure of the government. The Congress leadership reportedly used the fax to avert this eventuality.

The fax was purported to have been sent by the Congress high command to prevent five dissident MLAs from voting against the government.

The MLAs loyal to K. Karunakaran were Kadavoor Sivadasan, P. Sankaran, both former Ministers, and P.P. George, E.M. Augasty and Shobhana George.

The issue heated up with Opposition Leader Achuthanandan charging that the then United Democratic Front (UDF) Convenor Oomman Chandy and Minister M.M. Hassan were behind forwarding the fax message to the office of the assembly speaker. He demanded a probe into the entire episode by an assembly committee.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan also demanded a probe into the issue involving the high offices of the chief minister and the speaker. Karunakaran loyalists joined the chorus of demand for a judicial probe.

The incident occurred even as the tussle between Antony and rebels in the party led by Karunakaran reached its climax.

Meanwhile, human rights activist Joemon Puthenpurakkal moved the First Class Judicial Magistrate placing Antony and Oomman Chandy in the dock. The petitioner also wanted a thorough probe into the matter. The court had then issued a notice asking Vakkom to present the fax in the court.

The court had also sent an official with the notice the second time but Vakkom did not receive it. Later he was sworn in as the Finance Minister.

When the High Court issued summons, Vakkom had replied that he was not the speaker then. The court being not satisfied with the reply, had issued a warrant.

While considering the plea of Vakkom to cancel the warrant, the court strongly criticised him.