KOCHI: The High Court on Tuesday said that the Chief Minister and the ministers could not be charged just because of the policy decision taken to implement the Life Mission project. However, the court made it clear that the top officials were responsible for the fraud.

Life Mission is a prestigious project of the government. It is part of the government's policy to build houses for the homeless. There are three levels for the project: state level, district level and local government level. The Chief Minister is the Chairman of the state-level mission. The co-chairman is the Minister of Local Government. The Ministers of Finance, Power, Water Resources, Labor, Housing, Social Justice and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Development are the Vice-Chairmen. IAS officers are responsible for assisting the Chief Minister and Ministers in formulating and implementing policies. They also have the obligation to notify the political leadership in writing of the legal implications and objections to the implementation of the policies. The Chief Minister and other ministers cannot be blamed for the failure of the officials to identify and report shortcomings. The scam was carried out by Swapna Suresh, Sarith, Sandeep Nair and Santosh Eapen along with the IAS officials who did not inform the legal impact in writing, the court said.