The Kerala High Court on Thursday posted to March 9 for the final hearing on a revision petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the Thiruvananthapuram CBI special court verdict discharging Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and six others from the SNC-Lavalin corruption case.
The court adjourned the hearing while dismissing a petition filed by M.R. Ajayan, a journalist, seeking early hearing and disposal of the CBI’s revision petition.
While the CBI expressed its willingness to argue the case on February 21, the counsel for the respondents, including Mr. Vijayan wanted the court to post the case for final hearing on March 9.
Dismissing the petition, the court observed that a third party had no right to implead in a criminal proceeding. The court further said the judges were aware of their responsibilities and they knew how to deal with and dispose of each case. Media reports or channel discussions would not affect the dispensation of justice. Every case would be dealt with the deserving seriousness and the priority it required. Media need not tell and dictate the court how to deal with the cases. Besides, the judicial proceedings was not a mechanic or electronic process. It was a procedure governed by law.
Mr. Ajayan pointed out that the hearing on the CBI’s petition was adjourned several times earlier on some pretext or the other. The discharged accused wanted to delay the hearing on the petition so that evidence could be destroyed, the petitioner pointed out.
The CBI case was that Mr. Vijayan, while serving as Electricity Minister from May 1996 to October 1998, along with the other accused, hatched a criminal conspiracy to award the contract for the renovation and modernisation of the Pallivasal, Sengulam, and Panniar hydroelectric projects to SNC-Lavalin at an exorbitant cost.
