Assembly special session on Nov 9 to table solar report.

Times of India: Thiruvanantpuram: Friday, October 20, 2017.

The government has finally decided to make the judicial commission probe report on the sensational solar scam public. However, in an attempt to avoid the embarrassment of deviating from the earlier stand of not publicizing the report until it was tabled in the state assembly, the government has announced that a assembly special session will be convened on November 9.

The cabinet meeting, held on Thursday, has recommended the Governor to convene the single-day assembly session to discuss the judicial probe report. The day falls ahead of the 30-day deadline to respond to the first application filed under Right to Information (RTI) Act seeking copy of the report. After 30 days of filing the application, the government anyway has to release the report. Incidentally, the first application was filed by Congress leader Oommen Chandy, an accused in the scam. So far, around 15 RTI applications have been pending before the chief secretary.

The cabinet has also decided to seek comprehensive legal advice from a legal luminary in the case. It has entrusted chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan with the task of initiating steps to consult Justice Arijit Pasayat, former Supreme Court judge and former Chief Justice of Kerala high court, on the legal validity of the recommendations of Justice Sivarajan commission that probed the scam. The nature and scope of further inquiry into the scam will be decided after getting the legal advice of Justice Pasayat, it is learnt.

The decision has taken the Congress by surprise, as they have been demanding to make the report public as soon as it was submitted before the chief minister by the commission. But, Vijayan ruled out the possibility of making the report public and claimed that the report could be only submitted before the assembly. The chief minister was also of the opinion that the government has six months' time to produce the report before the assembly.

The decision of the government to go for a vigilance probe against Chandy and criminal proceedings against other former ministers and Congress leaders were flayed by the KPCC saying that the government wanted to keep the report confidential. Chandy was all set to take the legal course to get a copy of the report as his request under RTI failed to receive any response.

The cabinet had approved the solar commission report on October 11 after taking legal opinion from advocate general and director general of prosecutions.