Recently, the Supreme Court of India dismissed a plea challenging the exclusion of retired Kerala High Court judge, Justice CN Ramachandran Nair, from the list of accused in the CSR fund scam.
A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta was hearing the Special Leave Petition (Criminal) Diary No. 27747/2025 filed by Joint Voluntary Action for Legal Options (JVALA) organisation. The plea was against the Kerala High Court order directing the investigating officer (IO) to exclude the name of Justice Nair from the FIR related to the scam.
The case pertains to the National NGO Confederation, which is accused of giving goods such as laptops, sewing machines and household appliances at subsidised rates to several individuals and over 200 charitable organisations, allegedly obtained from corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds. One of the complainants, Angadippuram Kisan Seva Society, claimed it was defrauded of over ₹34 lakh between April and November 2024.
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Initially, Justice Nair was listed as an accused due to his role as a trustee of the confederation. However, five lawyers of the Kerala High Court filed a PIL, saying the FIR against the retired judge was based on a frivolous complaint and could harm the public image of the judiciary.
In February 2025, the High Court expressed concern over whether due care had been taken while naming the former judge. Acting on a statement by the Director General of Prosecution, the court eventually directed removal of his name from all FIRs.
"Hon'ble Justice (Retd) C.N. Ramachandran Nair has no role or knowledge in the daily functioning or financial transactions of the National NGO Confederation," the Director General of Prosecution said. "Preliminary verification of bank accounts did not show any payment received by him."
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Aggrieved by this decision, JVLA approached the Supreme Court and argued that the former judge was removed from the case only on the basis of this written statement. During the hearing, Justice Mehta remarked:
"You named the person only to take revenge."
The counsel for the petitioner tried to highlight the former judge's alleged involvement in signing letters and correspondence related to the NGOs, and said, "I am aggrieved with 161 NGOs… he has been signing in the daily activities." However, the bench did not agree.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court said:
“We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment and order. Accordingly, the special leave petition is dismissed.”
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Case Title: Joint Voluntary Action for Legal Options (JVALA) & Ors vs State of Kerala & Ors Diary No. 27747/2025
Appearance:
For Petitioners: AOR Suvidhatt MS, Advocates Deepika Singh and Disha Puri