Former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has moved the Supreme Court against a Kerala High Court order directing the registration of an FIR in the alleged Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) bribery case, while seeking urgent listing and protection from coercive action.
Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for Vijayan, mentioned the plea before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi. Luthra told the bench that an FIR had been registered in the matter and requested protection for Vijayan from coercive steps.
The Chief Justice said the matter would be heard when the Supreme Court reopens on October 26 after the Dussehra break. He also indicated that a bench could be constituted during the holidays in the following week, subject to the availability of judges.
The move follows a setback for Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and her husband P A Mohamed Riyas in the Kerala High Court. On Thursday, a division bench dismissed their applications seeking permission to file appeals against a single-judge order directing the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register a case.
The division bench held that an accused in a corruption case has no legal right to be heard before an FIR is registered. It said that after the applications were dismissed, the proposed appeals also stood dismissed consequentially.
The three petitioners had argued before the division bench that they were not heard by the single judge before the direction to register the FIR was issued. The single judge had passed the order on October 9, directing the VACB to act on a report submitted by the Enforcement Directorate to the state police.
The Enforcement Directorate sought registration of the case on the basis of evidence it said had been gathered during its investigation and searches conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The agency has alleged that CMRL made fraudulent payments of Rs 2.78 crore to Veena’s now-defunct company, Exalogic Solutions, describing them as payments for information technology consultancy services.
The Supreme Court proceedings concern the challenge to the High Court’s orders and the request for protection from coercive action. The next stated judicial milestone is the apex court’s reopening on October 26, unless a holiday bench takes up the matter earlier subject to judicial availability.
