HC Rejects Petition Seeking Removal of Vijayan as Kerala CM

KOCHI:
The Kerala High Court dismissed a petition seeking the removal of Pinarayi Vijayan as the chief minister of Kerala, saying it could not interfere in the matter.
A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Antony Dominic and Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu said the Cabinet was answerable to the state legislature, and the Court could not interfere in the matter. The petitioner, identified as R S Sasikumar, had challenged the continuance of Vijayan as the chief minister, based on the court’s observations made last month while dismissing a plea by Thomas Chandy, who had resigned as state transport minister on November 15.
Chandy, accused of land encroachment for his luxury resort, had challenged a report by the Alappuzha district collector in this regard. The minister’s resignation came in the wake of the court rapping him for filing a plea against his own government.
There is a violation of collective cabinet responsibility by the minister, the court had held. Referring to four CPI ministers abstaining from a state cabinet meeting held on November 15, the petitioner said they had done so after giving in writing the decision of their party that they were not going to attend the meet.
The petitioner further said the chief minister had described the action as “unprecedented”. All these constituted lack of collective cabinet responsibility, the petitioner said.
The CPI, the second largest partner in the ruling coalition, had asked its four ministers to stay away from the meeting if Chandy attended it.