Kochi: A division bench of the Kerala High Court Tuesday sought Advocate General C.P. Sudhakara Prasad's views on a petition filed by an NGO for prosecuting Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, accused in a multi-million rupee scam by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI, in its detailed report last week to both the Kerala High Court and the CBI court in Kochi, accused Vijayan and 10 others of having been involved in wrongly awarding the contracts to renovate two hydro-power projects to Canadian company SNC Lavalin 12 years ago.
Vijayan was state electricity minister in 1997 when SNC Lavlin was given the contract in which the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had found irregularities.
The division bench of acting Chief Justice J.B. Koshy and Justice V. Giri asked Prasad for his views to be filed before next Monday.
Kochi-based NGO People's Council for Civil Rights had last week filed a petition to prosecute Vijayan, stating that no sanction was required from the prosecution side.
The NGO had filed the petition after reports surfaced that the CBI, to proceed against Vijayan, has to get a sanction from the prosecution since he is a former minister.
The NGO said no such sanction was required, citing Supreme Court rulings.
The CBI, meanwhile, told the court that their investigation was complete and handed over the findings in a sealed cover.
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