Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused the Opposition Congress of "creating legal entanglements" to the Life Mission project and said the FIR filed by CBI for alleged violation of rules, does not have any legal standing.
Vijayan, who met the media on Thursday evening, asserted that the Life Mission has not received any funding from abroad in order to flout the provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act (FCRA) as alleged by a Congress MLA, based on which the CBI has filed a case.
"The legal opinion received by the state government points out that the FIR filed by the CBI against the Life Mission does not have legal standing and hence we decided to challenge it in the court," Vijayan said.
He also said the Left government was not following the Congress-ruled Rajasthan government model, which had withdrawn general consent for the CBI to investigate in the state.
"The state government has moved the High Court with a clear conviction that there is no violation of any provisions of the FCRA.
We will not stand as a mute spectator when a project like Life Mission, which was designed to provide home for landless and homeless poor of the state, is pushed into baseless legal entanglements. This cannot be accepted," the CM said.
Already the Vigilance department in the state has begun investigation into the matter to ascertain whether any corruption was involved in it.
"It is ridiculous that those who make a conscious effort to create legal entanglements are raising objections when the government seeks a legal solution.
The approach of the Opposition that they will raise any objection as they like and the government should sit tight without responding to it is not acceptable," Vijayan added.
Earlier on Thursday, the Kerala High Court had allowed the CBI to continue with its probe into the 'Life Mission' for alleged violation of FCRA.
The court said the CBI is doing the preliminary probe and asked the Life Mission to cooperate with the investigation.
The Kerala government had on Wednesday moved the Court seeking quashing of an FIR filed by the CBI on a complaint by Wadakancherry Congress MLA Anil Akkara.
(With inputs from PTI)
