The judicial commission probing the solar panel scam today said it will not prevent a jailed prime accused to produce purported video clippings showing six powerful state politicians "engaging in wrong situations" with his partner Saritha S Nair.
A day after prime accused Biju Radhakrishnan failed to "discover" purported video clippings of politicians, including Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy with Saritha from a village near Coimbatore, the Commission stated he can produce the materials "voluntarily" but no assistance would be extended to discover it.
"I am not closing (the matter) for the reason that it is the requirement," Commission Chairman Justice G Sivarajan said.
The accused can bring the CDs or pendrive containing video footage using his methods within a reasonable time, but no opportunity would be granted him to discover it, Justice Sivarajan said in a verbal directive after Radhakrishnan submitted that he be granted one more opportunity to produce the materials.
"...If he is able to get and produce after obtaining that document, I will not deny it," the Commission said, but refused to mark the directive as a part of its proceedings.
The commission noted it had allowed Radhakrishnan yesterday to visit a locality in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu to retrieve the purported videos, but he failed to discover it.
Deposing before the Commission, Radhakrishnan reiterated his claim that he had handed over the CD and pen drive in a bag
to a relative in Selvapuram some two-and-a-half years ago.
As per the directive of the Commission, a team of four Kerala officials with an advocate had gone to Coimbatore yesterday with Radhakrishnan.
They had located a house in Selvapuram but the CDs were not found in the bag given to the accused's relatives who lived there.
Meanwhile, the Commission expressed displeasure over the way the issue was handled by the media and police.
"Media and police defeated the purpose. ...It is too unfortunate. What is their (media) intention? Putting in the air and create a sensation?" the Commission said, referring to the way the visual media and police dealt with the situations at the residence of Radhakrishnan's relatives in Selvapuram while he was brought there to discover the CDs.
Deposing before the Commission on December 2, Radhakrishnan had said he had shown the videos of five politicians with Saritha to the Chief Minister.
He, however, did not deliberately show the sixth person's video as it was reportedly the CM himself.
"I have evidence with me to prove this. I will produce it, if required," he had said in his deposition recorded that day.
Radhakrishnan, serving life term in jail for murder of his first wife, said he had met Chandy while he was on the run following the arrest of Saritha after the scam came to light.
Both Chandy and Saritha have denied his charges.
"The regulations are yet to be finalised in some key
states and in states where they are, there is a wide variation in terms of allowed project capacity, eligibility criterion, exemptions provided, tariff rate for the power exported to the grid, and settlement period," Majumdar added.
Further, there is a likelihood of state-owned distribution utilities (discoms) resisting due to loss of revenue from cross subsidising industrial /commercial consumers adopting the rooftop solar segment.
"We are of the view that effective implementation of the rooftop solar PV projects would thus require support from discoms, overall consistency in net metering regulations across the states, as well as upgradation of infrastructure by the discoms so as to effectively integrate the surplus power exported by the consumers to the grid," he said.
However, Icra noted that while there is no subsidy support for rooftop installations by industrial and commercial (I&C) segments, the improved cost competitiveness of solar PV energy at about Rs 5.5 per unit, led by a fall in PV module prices, makes it economically feasible for I&C customer segments, given that the prevailing commercial grid tariffs are high, in the range of Rs 6-10 per unit across states.
