Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 25 The Supreme Court will be taking up CBI's appeal in connection with the SNC Lavalin case, in which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was exonerated, on September 13.
A bench of Justice U.U.Lalit directed the registry to post the hearing for September 13 and to ensure that it is not deferred.
Vijayan was discharged as an accused by both the CBI special court in the state capital city and later by the Kerala High Court in 2017.
In December 2017, the CBI approached the Supreme Court and contended that Vijayan should face trial in the case.
But since then, the case could not be taken up for one or the other reason. In 2021 alone, it was kept aside four times.
The case pertains to loss of Rs 374 crore in the Kerala State Electricity Board's (KSEB) contract with the Canadian based SNC Lavalin for the renovation and modernisation of Pallivasal, Sengulam and Panniar hydroelectric projects in Idukki district, in 1996, when Vijayan was the State's Power Minister in the cabinet of E.K.Nayanar.
The Congress in Kerala has been alleging that there is a secret pact between the BJP in Delhi and Vijayan and that's why the case has been progressing at a snail's pace.
Notably, after the Kerala High Court gave him a clean chit in 2017, Vijayan who otherwise hardly meets the media, had immediately convened a press meet and slammed the Oommen Chandy government which in 2006 handed over this case to the CBI, just before the Assembly polls then.
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