The Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the Additional Chief Secretary of the Backwards Classes Welfare Department (BCWD) to appear on Friday to explain the delay in deciding the prosecution sanction of an accused BCWD official in the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) microfinance case.

Justice A. Badharudeen noted that the department had not complied with the court’s previous direction to consider the request for sanction to prosecute the official.

The cases relate to the alleged misappropriation in the loans disbursed to the SNDP Yogam between 2003 and 2014 by the Kerala State Backward Classes Development Corporation. The money was intended to benefit backward communities under the Micro Finance Programme. 

The State sought more time to comply with the court’s order to consider sanction, but the court said there was “no justification” in granting the request. 

The lead investigating officer in the cases had earlier reported that the inquiry had revealed eight instances of alleged misappropriation in Pulpally, Mananthavady, Ranni, Kunnathunadu, Kanayannoor, Chittoor and Taliparamba. The report mentioned accused in three cases from Pulpally, Ranni and Mananthavady, including SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan, M.N. Soman, K.K. Mahesan, K.S. Sabu, Vasanthkumar, T. Prabhakaran, and R. Purushothaman.