Thiruvananthapuram: The State government on Monday wrote to the High Court requesting the services of a sitting judge to head the judicial probe in the solar case.
The government, in a letter to the Court Registrar, sought the service of a sitting judge holding that the case was very important.
Rejecting its earlier request for sitting judge in the solar case, the High Court had informed the government that it cannot spare a sitting judge for the inquiry.
The administrative panel of the Kerala High Court took the decision on the ground that the High Court of Kerala is short of judges and over a lakh cases pending in the courts.
The Opposition LDF had made it clear that it would not settle for anything less than an inquiry by a sitting judge and that it was the duty of the government to find one.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had announced a judicial probe by a sitting judge following the high-voltage agitation by the LDF and the two-day siege to the State secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram.
The solar scam has been making headlines in the state for two months. Saritha Nair and her live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan allegedly defrauded people by offering solar energy solutions at huge discounts. After large sums of money were collected, the couple failed to make good their promises. Large numbers of complaints against them were received by police.