Kerala HC adjourns CBI plea in graft case against CM Pinarayi Vijayan to February 13

In May, Pinarayi Vijayan took over the mantel of chief minister for the first time. (File Photo)

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday deferred to February 13 the hearing on a revision petition filed by CBI challenging a special court verdict discharging Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and six others in a case related to alleged corruption in a hydel project deal with a Canadian firm two decades ago. Justice P Ubaid deferred the hearing after the counsels for both CBI and Vijayan sought adjournment on personal grounds.

In the previous hearing, the court had posted the petition for continuous hearing from Wednesday. The revision petition was filed against the November 2013 Thiruvananthapuram CBI special court order, discharging Vijayan and six others from the case relating to alleged loss of Rs 374.50 crore caused by them to the state exchequer in the award of contract to Canadian firm SNC Lavalin for renovating three hydel projects in the state.

Vijayan was then the Power Minister in the LDF government headed by E K Nayanar. The previous Congress-led UDF government had alleged that it was Vijayan who finalised the deal with the Canadian firm. In February last year, the high court had rejected a plea by the then state government for an early hearing of CBI’s revision petition challenging the acquittal of Vijayan.

CPI(M) had come out publicly against the then Congress-led UDF government, alleging that it wanted early hearing to build a case against the party and its leader Vijayan for political reasons.