Thiruvananthapuram: A local court in Thiruvananthapuram granted a conditional stay on the recent court verdict requiring veteran Left leader V.S. Achuthanandan to pay former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Rs 10.10 lakh in the defamation case filed the latter over the opposition’s attack in the solar scam, but asked him to remit Rs 1.5 lakh.
Achuthanandan’s counsel, soon after the lower court ordered the payment to the Congress leader, had said that they would go in appeal against the verdict. Though they got a conditional stay but suffered a jolt as there was no relief on the payment front.
The solar scam rocked the Chandy-led Congress government in 2013, when scam accused Saritha Nair and her then live- in partner went around allegedly cheating prospective investors offering solar panels but did not supply the equipment even after collecting money.
The scam took a heavy toll on Chandy’s government, when it surfaced three of his staff members had personal contacts with Nair and with the Opposition breathing down Chandy, he dismissed all three.
The present case pertains to an interview that Achuthanandan gave to a media wherein he alleged that Chandy had gone to the extent of starting a new company to siphon of the scam money.
Chandy, in 2014, personally filed the defamation case and testified before the court, which held that as Achuthanandan failed to produce any evidence to substantiate his allegations, he would have to pay a sum of Rs 10.10 lakh.
Even though Chandy had originally filed the suit for Rs 1 crore, he later reduced it.
Achuthanandan is now 98 years old and since the pandemic outbreak, has been remaining indoors and is not at all seen in public, while Chandy, who is also ailing due to a throat ailment, continues to be in active politics, but is not much visible.
The Left, then led by Achuthanandan, launched a blistering campaign against Chandy ahead of the 2016 Assembly polls, leading to it winning a huge victory in the polls. However, the CPI-M sidelined Achuthanandan and made Pinarayi Vijayan the Chief Minister.
(IANS)
