Lavalin: Govt’s plea put off for two months; Don’t use court for political benefits: HC

KOCHI: The additional petition filed by the government in the high court against the acquittal of CPM Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan in the Lavalin case was put aside for consideration after two months.  

The bench headed by Justice P Ubaid clarified that the existing situation didn’t warrant the consideration of the petition on urgent basis. This has come as a major setback for the State government which had moved the high court for immediate consideration of the petition.

The court asked, “what was the situation that necessitated immediate consideration of the petition?”. “When there is a huge backlog of cases pertaining to the years from 2000, the government has come out with this plea for considering the Lavalin case,” the court observed and warned in strong terms, not to use the court for political gains.

The CBI and Crime Nandakumar had moved the high court against the acquittal of Pinarayi Vijayan in the Lavalin case.
Later, the government submitted an additional petition to consider the review petition with urgency.

The CBI and the government argued that there was criminal conspiracy behind the Lavalain scam and Pinarayi and other officials were acquitted in spite of clear evidence against them.  

According to the case, the government had incurred a heavy loss while awarding Rs 374.50 crore contract to Canadian company Lavalin for the renovation of hydroelectric projects at Pallivasal, Chenkulam and Panniyar.

In the case investigated by the CBI, the accused were acquitted on November 5, 2013.

No comments: