Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday said that while the government has the power to grant sanction for prosecution, there was an "academic question" whether this right was being "taken over" by the judiciary.

Satheesan made the remark while responding to queries regarding the sanction order initially issued by the government to the CBI to prosecute Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC) officials, including its former chairman and INTUC state president R Chandrasekharan, in a 2015 corruption case.

The CM said that the initial sanction order was found to be "wrong" and therefore, a corrected version was given to the court.

"We did not give that order to the court. When we saw there was something wrong with the order, we did not give it to the court. We gave the corrected order to the court," he said during a press conference here.

He said that in the present case the government decided to grant sanction as it prima facie found that a case was made out.

"The Pinarayi Vijayan government did not grant sanction, but we did even though a party member is involved in it," he contended.

At the same time, he also said that it raises some "serious legal questions".

"Under the statute, the government has the right to grant prosecution sanction. So, there is an academic question as to whether the government's right is being taken over by the judiciary. We are viewing it very seriously," he said.

The Kerala High Court, meanwhile, issued a contempt notice to an IAS officer, K Biju, in the state government, over the contents of the first sanction order after the same was brought to the court's notice.

Justice A Badharudeen said he will not spare the official concerned as he was blaming the judiciary in the first sanction order issued on July 2.

The court also observed that the official -- K Biju -- appeared to be trying to save the accused in the case "for reasons known to him".

It directed the official to appear in person before it and state why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against him.

The court was hearing a contempt petition filed by Kollam native Kadakampally Manoj alleging non-compliance with its directions regarding the grant of sanction to the CBI to prosecute KSCDC officials in the graft case.

The corruption case dates back to 2015 when the CBI registered a case into alleged irregularities in the KSCDC following directions from the High Court.

After completing its investigation, the agency sought sanction from the state government to prosecute the accused, including former KSCDC chairman R Chandrasekharan.

Subsequently, Manoj approached the court seeking implementation of its directions to grant prosecution sanction to the CBI.