Competent Authorities Will Take Action: Kerala High Court In PIL Alleging Large-Scale Corruption By Cashew Board

A public interest litigation has been moved before the Kerala High Court alleging large-scale corruption in the import of Raw Cashew Nuts (RCN) by the Kerala Cashew Board Ltd. (KCB). In the plea, the petitioner has stated that even though he had submitted a complaint (Exhibit P8) before Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), the same has not yet been considered.

The Division Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice Syam Kumar V.M. recorded the submission made by the counsel for the petitioner that there is a likelihood of removal of the cashew nuts and kernels by the 3rd respondent (Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation Ltd. - KSCDC) and therefore, there is urgency in the matter. It observed:

"We do not think that we should intervene even on such a submission because, if there is a cause as projected by the petitioner, then the competent authorities of respondents 1, 2 and 5 certainly obtain necessary competence."

KCB is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of the government of Kerala with a primary objective of procuring raw cashew nuts from India and abroad for making them available to cashew processing units in Kerala. In 21.12.2023, the government passed an order making it mandatory for the KSCDC and the Kerala State Cashew Workers Apex Industrial Co-operative Society (CAPEX) to purchase Imported RCN from the KCB for functioning of their cashew factories.

According to the plea, KCB invited tender for dried raw cashew nuts of 2025 crop of GHANA origin and tender was given to M/s Olam International Ltd, Singapore and M/s ADT Trading FZE. On 25.08.2025, vide Exhibit P4 order, the KCB awarded the value of imported RCN total value up to USD 3,990,000 (33.9 Crore Rupees) for each companies. Prior to the Exhibit P4, Directors of the KSCDC conducted a quality check and found that there were old, damaged and other varieties of cashew nuts in the bags with the Ghana 2025 tag, it is stated.

The plea also incorporates the screenshot of an email sent by the Director to the Chairman of KSCDC urging Government and Cashew Board intervention, legal action against the seller, and thorough verification of consignments. It is also stated that another Director also addressed a similar e-mail requesting a proper investigation.

The petitioner states that he approached Deputy Superintendent of Police, VACB (5th respondent), the Director of VACB (1st respondent) and state government (2nd respondent) with complaints against the alleged act of corruption but to no avail. Thereafter, he filed a writ petition (WP(C) No. 32636 of 2025) before the High Court, but the same was withdrawn with liberty to file the present petition.

The present PIL prays for a direction to the 1st respondent to consider his complaint within a time frame fixed by the Court and to conduct a vigilance inquiry into the fraud. He has also prayed for a direction to the respondents to take appropriate action against the suppliers who supplied inferior quality cashew.

The next posting date of the case is September 8.

The petition is moved by Advocates Jomy K. Jose and Mohammed Anshif T.K.

Case No: WP(PIL) 109 of 2025

Case Title: Adv. Vishnu Sunil Panthalam @ Vishnu Sunil v. Director, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau and Ors.

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