CMRL 'Bribery' Case: Kerala HC Dismisses Vijayan, Others' Pleas to File Appeal Against FIR Order
The bench said that the October 9 order "has not affected the applicants' rights to pursue the constitutional statutory remedy against the registration of the FIR"
Kochi: In a setback to former Keralam Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his kin, the Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed their pleas to file appeals against a single judge direction to lodge an FIR against them in the alleged CMRL bribery case.A bench of Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John rejected the applications of Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and her husband P A Mohamed Riyas to file an appeal against the single's judge's October 9 order.
The bench said that the October 9 order "has not affected the applicants' rights to pursue the constitutional statutory remedy against the registration of the FIR."
"All the applications seeking leave to file appeal are dismissed," it said.
The detailed judgement is awaited.
Vijayan, Veena and Riyas, in their appeals, had claimed that they were not heard by the single judge before issuing the October 9 direction to lodge the FIR.
The appellants had also claimed that once the High Court has ordered lodging of an FIR, the appellants cannot challenge it in the court.
They further claimed that the petition, in which the single judge passed the order, was in the form of a public interest litigation and therefore, it should have been heard by a division bench which deals with PILs.
The appeals were moved in the wake of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau's (VACB) Special Investigation Unit-1 registering, on Monday, two FIRs against Vijayan and his family members in connection with the alleged CMRL bribery case.
The Kerala High Court on October 9 directed the VACB to register a case based on a report submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to the state police.
The ED had sought registration of a case based on evidence 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, under the guise of IT consultancy services.
