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Keralam High Court refuses Vijayan family's plea for Friday hearing, lists CMRL appeal for Monday
Pinarayi Vijayan's lawyers wanted their appeal against the vigilance FIR heard at once. The court posted it before the original division bench on 26 October, inside the Supreme Court's seven-day window.
Key points
- The High Court declined to hear the appeal on Friday and posted it for Monday, 26 October.
- It goes before the bench of Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John, which had earlier refused leave to appeal.
- The Supreme Court's seven-day pause on the vigilance probe runs from 21 October.
The Keralam High Court on Friday turned down a request from former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s lawyers to hear his family’s appeal in the CMRL-Exalogic case the same day, and posted it for Monday, 26 October.
The appeal will go before the original division bench of Justices K Natarajan and Johnson John. That bench had earlier dismissed the family’s applications for leave to appeal, a decision the Supreme Court set aside on Wednesday.
Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and his son-in-law P A Mohamed Riyas are challenging a single-judge order of 9 October by Justice A Badharudeen, which led the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to register an FIR naming them. The case rests on material the Enforcement Directorate passed to the state police under Section 66(2) of the money laundering law, flagging suspected offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The ED is separately looking at possible money laundering.
The clock
On 21 October a Supreme Court bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana stayed further investigation for seven days so that the family could appeal. It made clear that the FIR itself still stands, expressed no view on whether the allegations justify a criminal case, and left any further interim relief to the High Court.
That protection lapses next week unless the High Court extends it. Monday’s hearing gives the division bench a day or two to decide whether it will.