SNC Lavalin case adjourned for record 35th time

FOR a record 35th time, the Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the controversial SNC Lavalin case involving Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, report online news sites quoting IANS.

The case came up before the division bench of Justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Duttaon on Tuesday in which the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) junior counsel pointed out that the senior counsel is in another court and will appear soon and the case can be then taken up.

But the court failed to take it up and also did not give a fresh date for it to be heard.

This case first came in the apex court in 2017, following the Kerala High Court verdict exonerating Vijayan in the case.

The CBI then approached the Supreme Court in December 2017, contending that Vijayan should face trial in the case.

Since then, for one reason or the other, the case has been deferred.

The case pertains to the loss of Rs 374 crore to the Kerala State Electricity Board's (KSEB) contract with the Canada-based SNC Lavalin for the renovation and modernisation of Pallivasal, Sengulam and Panniar hydroelectric projects in Idukki district in 1996, when Vijayan was the Power Minister in the cabinet of E.K. Nayanar.