Kochi, April 10 The Kerala High Court on Friday initiated contempt proceedings against the Principal Secretary of the state government's Industries Department for repeatedly denying sanction to prosecute two former senior officials of the KSCDC in connection with a Rs 80 crore scam in 2011.
Justice A Badharudeen held that the official -- Mohammed Hanish -- did not follow the court's directions and "deliberately disobeyed" them while denying sanction to the CBI to prosecute K A Ratheesh, former Managing Director of KSCDC, and R Chandrasekharan, former Chairman of the corporation.
The court had in 2024 directed the government to grant sanction for the prosecution of the two officials, but this was not followed by the official, who issued an order in October last year declining sanction.
The court, in its 2024 judgment, had overturned earlier government orders denying sanction to prosecute the two former officials of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation.
The court noted that a thorough evaluation of the evidence would show that the government was "very reluctant" to grant sanction, even though the prosecution materials would prima facie substantiate the commission of offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the accused, involving a huge scam of Rs 80 crore in 2011.
"Therefore, the inevitable conclusion of this court is that the respondent (official) herein, representing the government, did not adhere to the directions issued by this court... and wilfully disobeyed the direction, thereby, prima facie, committed the offence of civil contempt, as defined under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971," Justice Badharudeen said.
The court also observed that the government was hesitating to grant sanction "for reasons known to it," and its stand was "arbitrary, against public interest, and in gross violation of the findings" of the court in the 2024 judgment.
The court overturned the October 2025 government order denying sanction to prosecute the two former KSCDC officials and directed the principal secretary to reconsider the matter in line with the court's 2024 judgment and issue a fresh order on or before May 18.
It also directed the official to appear before the court on May 18 in connection with the contempt proceedings.
The order was issued in response to the contempt plea moved by Kollam-resident Kadakampally Manoj.
It was on Manoj's plea that the High Court in 2015 had ordered an investigation into the matter and handed over the investigation to the CBI.
The allegations against the two former KSCDC officials pertained to the misuse of Rs 80 crore allotted for the procurement of raw cashew nuts.