After 33 hearings, SC to take up SNC Lavalin case on Tuesday

Thiruvananthapuram, July 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court  on Tuesday will hear the controversial SNC Lavalin case involving Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, which has been adjourned 33 times since it first came in the apex court in 2017.

The case will be heard by a division bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Dutta.

The adjournment in the case  began in 2017 and by now  it has been adjourned 33 times.

Each time this happens the Congress-led opposition in Kerala alleges that this is a part of the secret deal between the CPI(M) and the BJP for some political reasons. Another allegation that the Congress leaders here make is that Vijayan has not yet attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi even on controversial issues.

Following the High Court verdict exonerating CM Vijayan in the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in December 2017 approached the Supreme Court, contending that he should face trial in the case.

The then Chief Justice U.U. Lalit-headed bench in August 2022 posted the case for hearing for September 13 same year and said that it should be ensured that it is not deferred, but after that it was deferred two more 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 power minister in the cabinet of E.K. Nayanar.

After the Kerala High Court gave him a clean chit in 2017, Vijayan 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.