Kochi | Kerala High Court judge Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas on Monday recused himself from hearing a petition challenging the certification granted to the film 'The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond'.
The petition, filed by Yohan George, also sought directions to remove "Kerala" from the film's title.
While considering the plea, the court orally observed that the matter had become infructuous.
The judge noted that he had previously heard two other petitions seeking similar relief and therefore decided to recuse himself from further hearing of the case.
In February this year, a single bench of the High Court had granted an interim stay on the release of the film.
However, the order was subsequently stayed by a division bench, paving the way for the film's release.
Kochi | The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed an appeal filed by Industries Department Principal Secretary Mohammed Haneesh against a single bench order directing him to appear in person in contempt proceedings related to an alleged corruption case in the KSCDC.
A division bench comprising Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John dismissed the appeal against the order passed by Justice A Badharudeen directing Haneesh to personally appear before the court.
The contempt proceedings arose from a petition filed by Kollam native Kadakampally Manoj alleging non-compliance with court directions regarding the grant of sanction to the CBI to prosecute officials of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC) in a corruption case.
Justice Badharudeen had ordered Haneesh's personal appearance after noting repeated denial of prosecution sanction despite earlier court directions.
The division bench observed that the single judge had already found prima facie material against certain KSCDC officials.
However, the CBI could not proceed with prosecution without obtaining sanction from the state government, the court noted.
Holding that there was no reason to interfere with the single bench order directing personal appearance, the division bench dismissed the petition.
The case dates back to 2015 when the CBI registered a case into alleged corruption in the KSCDC following directions from the High Court.
After completing its probe, 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 directions to grant prosecution sanction to the CBI.
Following repeated refusals to grant sanction, the single bench initiated contempt proceedings and directed the personal appearance of the Principal Secretary.
