SNC-Lavalin case: Four HC judges recuse from hearing revision plea

KOCHI: The SNC-Lavalin case has taken an interesting turn, with four Kerala High Court judges recusing themselves from hearing a revision petition filed by the CBI against a lower court order acquitting all the accused, including state CPI(M) Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.

The latest to withdraw was Justice NK Balakrishnan, who on Tuesday said he had earlier worked under a lawyer who was very close to the ruling party in the state. The Congress party leads the ruling coalition in Kerala. Justices K Harilal, Thomas P Joseph and ML Joseph Francis had earlier recused themselves from hearing the revision plea.

The revision petition will now come up before the bench of Justice K Ramakrishnan, who posted the matter for hearing on next Tuesday. Nandakumar, editor of the Crime magazine, had also filed a revision plea.

A CBI court had on November 5 acquitted Vijayan and seven others in the case. The oneand-a-half-decade old case was based on charges that the modernisation of a few hydroelectric projects undertaken by the state electricity board with the help of the Canadabased company had caused a loss of Rs 374 crore to the state. Vijayan was the electricity minister when the deal with SNC Lavalin was concluded.

Former MP from Ernakulam Sebastian Paul described the situation of four judges withdrawing from the case as an "extraordinary development".

Former Supreme Court Judge VR Krisna Iyer said that judges have the responsibility to hear the case. According to him, if the judges cannot hear the case they should "get out".

According to K Sudhakaran, a Congress MP, the judges withdrew from the case due to threats from the CPI(M). Kerala Students Union, the student wing of the Congress, organized a procession in Kochi to protest against the withdrawal of judges.