'Nothing Short Of Ridiculing Their Powers': Kerala High Court Denies CBI Probe For Not Approaching Statutory Authorities First

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Western Ghats Protection Council seeking a CBI enquiry into the allegedly illegal financial dealings of Kenza Holdings under the guise of a Villa Project. 

A Division Bench of Chief Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly refused to entertain the plea noting that the petitioner society had not approached the relevant statutory authorities prescribed by law before seeking an investigation by the CBI.

"...when there are statutory authorities to tackle situations and take appropriate action for violation of the laws through the mechanism provided under such laws, petitioner is not entitled to seek for a roving enquiry through another specialized agency like the C.B.I, which relief if granted would be nothing short of ridiculing the investigative powers conferred on such authorities under law."

Further, it was observed that no adequate documents were produced to establish money laundering or violation of Income Tax laws, apart from certain blunt allegations in the petitions. Therefore, no CBI investigation was ordered as sought for by the petitioner.

The petitioner argued that the respondents were carrying out construction of Villas and other buildings in violation of the provisions of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 and the Kerala Panchayat Building Rules, 2011.

It added that in spite of its earnest efforts, no action was initiated by any state machinery to enquire if these constructions were in accordance with law.

As such, the PIL sought a direction to CBI to conduct an impartial investigation into the illegal involvement of public authorities and their calculated failure in initiating strict preventive actions against these respondents and their financial dealings with Non-Resident Indians and others under the guise of a Villa Project, and money laundering for tax evasion, if any involved, in the financial dealings.

The Court after perusing the available material found that the entire circumstances in the case could only be deciphered by the appropriate fact-finding authorities. 

Further, it was observed that the petitioner had approached the High Court without first seeking remedy from the appropriate statutory authorities.

For instance, the petitioner had remedy under the provisions of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act and the Kerala Panchayat Building Rules to approach either the Ombudsman or the Tribunal for Local Self Government Institutions, which authorities are empowered to analyze the issues.

Similarly, if there was money laundering as alleged by the petitioner, it should have approached the statutory authorities under the prevention of the Money Laundering Act.

Likewise, if there is a violation of income tax laws, the income tax authority is vested with powers to take appropriate action, however, there is no case for the petitioner that it approached the authorities. 

As such, it was held that the petitioner failed to make out any case for granting the reliefs as are sought for in the petition.

However, the Bench clarified that if there is any violation of any order passed by the Disaster Management Authority in regard to the constructions, the Authority has to take appropriate action.

As such, the petition was dismissed leaving liberty to the Secretary of the Grama Panchayat and the District Disaster Management Authority to conduct due inspection and enquiries under the prevailing laws to find out if the constructions are carried out in accordance with law.  

Advocates K.C. Santhosh Kumar, K.K.Chandralekha, Anupama Johny, P.Maya and K.S.Sudha appaered for the petitioner in the matter. The respondents were represented by ASGI S.Manu, Central Government Counsel Jaisankar V. Nair, Standing Counsel T.Naveen for Kerala State Pollution Control Board, Senior Government Pleader K.P.Harish, Advocates Jayasree K.P, Jacob Sebastian, John Joseph, K.V.Winston and Anu Jacob. 

Case Title: Western Ghats Protection Council v Union of India & Ors.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Ker) 140

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